


White is the Color of Guilt

by Estirose, tptigger



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-18
Updated: 2010-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:57:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Trent runs away to keep the others safe, he soon finds that there are people who care for him, and can set him free from the white dino gem's evil side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Called Blood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/112667) by [Estirose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose). 



> .  
> Disclaimer: Characters and situations are the property of Saban again! Yay! (No copyright infringement is intended. We'll be happy to buy DVD box sets if released in the US.)
> 
> Authors' note: This is an AU. It was started around the time of "Truth And Consequences" and therefore totally ignores half the season. It is also a semi-cossover with the 1990's version of "The Tomorrow People" and takes place in Estirose's "Opposites Attract" universe, but Trent doesn't have a clue what's going on with the crossover elements either, so it should be explained enough to understand without having seen the show.  
> 

"Any sign of Trent?" Conner asked as the three Rangers piled out of his car. "Not that I'd actually be glad to see him or anything."

"He e-mailed me, told me he was leaving town," Ethan said, holding the door to Dr. O's house open for the other two.

Kira frowned. "This can't be good."

"Kira, he's evil!" Conner exclaimed.

Ethan worked the dinosaur to go down to Dr. O's lab. "Or the gem is. We'll tell Hayley he skipped town--after we see what she wants."

The three of them piled down the stairs. Hayley was sitting at the console, with a blond man wearing blue jeans and a white shirt leaning over her.

"Who are you?" Kira asked, hands forming fists at her sides.

"Billy Cranston," the man said, half-distracted by what Hayley was doing--he barely turned to face them. "The original Blue Ranger. Here to get Tommy out of trouble--as usual."

"Figures," Conner snorted, instantly relaxing.

"Shh," Hayley admonished as she and the man finished up working on something. "I think we've got it."

"Can we help?" Ethan asked eagerly.

"Just sit back," Hayley said, waving the three to a bench. "Ready, Billy?"

Billy made some last minute adjustments to an instrument that looked a little too much like a gun for comfort and aimed it at the amber block. "I'm ready."

Kira tapped her foot nervously, fidgeting as Hayley and Billy worked.

Conner put a hand on her shoulder. "Hayley won't let anything happen to Dr. O."

Kira nodded, clearly unconvinced.

The amber seemed to melt away from the frozen figure in black, and soon Dr. O was standing before them. "Black Ranger--Power Down!" Dr. O exclaimed, and was soon back to normal. He stumbled.

"Here, sit, man," Billy said, helping Dr. O to a seat. "You look like you've been through a battle."

"Where's Trent? What's going on?" Dr. O asked, looking at Hayley and the others. He did a double take upon recognizing his old friend. "When did you get back from Aquitar, bro?"

"A few hours ago," Billy said, sitting down as well. "Hayley got in touch with me."

"It's good to see you man, I just wish it wasn't because I got myself... what happened?" Dr. O said, changing in mid-subject as if he realized something. "No, wait, scratch that. Trent's the White Ranger. We need to find him."

"Easier said than done, Dr. O, he skipped town a couple of days ago," Ethan groused.

"He figured out he was the White Ranger and wanted to get away so he wouldn't hurt anybody," Kira clarified. "Trent didn't remember anything at first--the gem was controlling him. He can't help what he's doing. We need to help him!" Kira's voice rose in volume and pitch as she spoke, and she shifted nervously.

"It's OK, Kira, I believe you." Dr. O patted her shoulder reassuringly. "I'll make sure he comes home safe." He paused. "Hayley, can I borrow your phone?"

Hayley extracted a cell phone from her pocket and tossed it to him. "Not sure if you'll get service down here."

"What are you doing, Dr. O?" Kira asked, her nose wrinkling in confusion. "How's a normal phone going to help us find Trent?"

"It's not the phone," Billy said with a grin, "it's who's on the other end."

Dr. O was busy dialing a number. "Hey, Jase? Hi, Bro. We've got a problem...."

"The first Red Ranger?" Ethan asked quietly, remembering the history video.

"Yeah," Billy said. "Then he'll call the second and the third..."

"Sixty or so former Rangers all on the lookout for Trent?" Kira asked, rapidly getting the idea.

"Exactly," Hayley said, watching Dr. O. "Let's just hope he hasn't left the state."

"He can't have gotten far," Conner said confidently.

"Um, freaked out Ranger with unknown powers," Kira pointed out, poking Conner in the shoulder. "And an ability to super speed in morph."

"And if you're right about him not liking what he was doing morphed, a serious reluctance to use his powers," Hayley added, sounding skeptical.

"Why are you so convinced it's him doing this Hayley?" Billy asked. He was frowning at the red head.

"You didn't see him tearing up the Rangers or the city!" Hayley exclaimed, crossing her arms and glaring at Billy.

Billy rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Tommy did that to us back in Angel Grove. What's your point?"

Hayley sighed and rubbed her head, as if warding off a headache. "I know. I keep forgetting."

Kira shook her head, knowing that it would be hard to find the solitary Ranger. "Trent's pretty good at hiding himself."

"Yeah, but the shape Conner last saw him in..." Ethan said hesitantly, "...do you really think he's thinking straight?"

"That's why he's going to be hiding himself. He's not going to walk into downtown Blue Bay Harbor, he's going to be keeping away from people," Kira pointed out, as if it was obvious.

"That won't be easy," Billy pointed out. "He'll need food, supplies."

"Yeah, but he's scared of being around people." Kira frowned, huddling her hands to her stomach as if she were hugging herself.

"Don't worry, Kira, I'm sure it'll work out," Billy said confidently. He awkwardly patted Kira's head.

"I hope so." Kira bit her lip, clearly not convinced. She looked at Dr. O. "I just hope strange people looking for him doesn't cause him to lose control and morph...."

Dr. O looked at Kira, stopping his next phone call in mid-dial. "That's a good point, I'll warn people about that."

"Dr. O, if most of the Rangers you're calling don't still have their powers..." Conner started, suddenly concerned.

"I know," Dr. O said evenly. "They'll call, and we'll catch him."

"If they find him," Kira said, sounding unsure.

"Hayley and I will start working on her data from your previous battles," Billy said distractedly--as if he was starting to plot out what was needed in his head. "We might be able to figure out how to control his morph for when we find him."

"Good idea," Dr. O said, dialing again. "In the meantime, we'll have as many eyes as possible looking for him."

"Which leaves us with sitting here watching or acting like every thing's normal again, huh?" Kira asked with a sigh, knowing that it was going to be a very long day.

"Hey, Rock, it's Tommy, we've got a bit of a situation here," Dr. O said into the phone, obviously talking to the next team's Red Ranger.

"Pretty much," Hayley agreed, ruffling Kira's hair.

"Yeah, we've got a missing Ranger. Current team. Named Trent Fernandez." Dr. O paused to listen once more.

The three younger Rangers exchanged glances, all trying to think of what they should be doing.

"Anyone checked on the Raptor Riders lately?" Conner mused.

The adults all looked at him blankly.

"Better do that before they eat their way out of the pen," Kira said, heading for the back door.

"We'd better help," Ethan said, going after her.

"Those things are *brutal* when they're hungry," Conner added, getting up to follow. He glanced back at Hayley.

She vaguely waved them in the direction of the pens. Behind them, Dr. O was continuing to talk. "Yeah, he's that White Ranger that's been on the news lately. Yeah, like me. I'll have Hayley e-mail you a photo, she's got one."

"Saving you some time and sending it to everyone," Hayley said, calling up a picture of Trent. "With a note that phone details should follow." She started typing.

"Don't forget to add the part about him morphing if he freaks out," Dr. O added. "In case I forget to call Jase back."

"Anyone else feeling a little redundant?" Kira asked as the three left earshot of the lab.

"Don't say stuff like that out here," Ethan said, looking around with concern. "Mesogog might decide to make trouble."

"And the last thing we need is trouble," Conner added.

"Right," Kira said as they approached the pen.

"We'll find him, Kira." Ethan gave her a one armed hug.

"And Hayley and this Billy dude will be able to help him," Conner added, patting her shoulder.

The boys both looked dubious, as if they didn't think this was the right solution. It was probably their faith in Dr. O that was talking.

"I hope so," Kira said, frowning. "He's probably not in good shape right now. I bet he hasn't slept in days, or eaten anything much."

 

"Hayley's crises rules, remember?" Ethan said. "Work on what you have control over. Do what you can. Find someone smarter than you to deal with what can be changed. Don't fret over the stuff that can't."

Kira sighed. "Yeah."

"This from the girl who found her own way out of Mesogog's lair without a morpher?" Conner teased.

"At least then I could *do* something," Kira said.

"Our turn will come soon enough," Conner said sagely.

* * *

Tommy disconnected the phone. "We've got to find him," he said despondently, rubbing his temples.

"Don't worry, Tommy, anywhere he'd go in this state is probably crawling with Rangers," Hayley said, still typing at the computer, though a little frantically.

"Unless he decides to lose himself in a big city like Sacramento or LA," Tommy sighed, staring listlessly.

Billy squeezed Tommy's shoulder reassuringly. "Kira said he was trying to get away from people. I don't think he'd go anywhere like that. You can probably rule out the Bay Area too."

"I know, and Adam's in Sacramento, but...." Tommy shook his head, clearly unconvinced. "Kira's right, if Trent freaks out it's not going to be pretty." He picked up the phone to dial again.

"Tell Andros he still owes me a drink," Billy said, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Calling T.J.," Tommy said, simply. It had long been decided it was silly to call both Andros *and* T.J. when one could simply inform the other.

"Well have Teej remind Andros," Billy rolled his eyes. Andros was going to have to hear about this either way.

"Right," Tommy said, dialing up T.J. "Hey, T.J., we've got a situation here...."

* * *

Eric, Wes, and Taylor were tired of the city. It didn't take much for Taylor these days--not after nearly two years on the Animarium--but for her boyfriend and Wes, it was a completely different story.

The Silver Guardians had been insanely busy--which was odd, since it was clear that the monster attacks had finally moved beyond Silver Hills after the attack of the MutOrgs. It was rare that both Rangers could muster a day off--and rarer indeed when Taylor could join them. So the three stopped at the grocery store for the makings of a picnic lunch and headed for a nice grassy patch of meadow a few miles out of town that Eric had known about.

Which, at the moment, was inhabited by a tired-looking young man who was punching things into a GPS. He looked like he'd not slept in days, in fact.

Taylor and the others exchanged glances. "Isn't that the kid Tommy Oliver's looking for?" Taylor whispered, adjusting her Air Force jacket, trying to seem less threatening.

Eric frowned, adjusting his beret, the same thought maybe occurring to him. "Maybe we should talk to him before we bring the full might of his team to bear? It might be easier to take."

Wes nodded in assent, keeping his voice low. "Come on. Just remember, don't scare him."

"Right," they said, trying to move towards Trent nonchalantly.

"Hey there," Taylor said in a friendly voice. She spoke while they were still some distance away--she knew sneaking up on him could be misconstrued.

The young man jumped. Literally. "Sorry," he said, in a polite but harried voice. "I'll get out of here now."

"Trent, wait," Wes said gently.

He backed away, looking around for a quick route of escape. "How do you guys know my name?"

"We're friends of Tommy's," Eric explained. He held his hands up in an "I'm harmless" gesture.

"I don't know any Tommy!" Trent said, backing up even more, starting to tense up as if to run.

"Tommy Oliver," Wes said, said gently. "You are Trent Fernandez, aren't you?"

"Um, no," Trent said, clearly lying.

Eric caught sight of Trent's wrist, the metal band gleaming in the sunlight. He rolled up his own sleeve. "Do you know what this is?"

"Um...." Trent was backing out of there, wild-eyed. He seemed ready to break away at any point.

"We're Rangers, Trent, just like you," Wes told him, still gently. "Tommy's looking for you. He wants to help you."

"I don't know any Tommy," Trent repeated dumbly, stumbling as he continued to back away from them.

"Dr. Thomas Oliver?" Taylor suggested, wondering if the lack of a title had kept his full name from registering before. Trent was Tommy's student, after all--they weren't exactly on a first name basis. "I believe he's your science teacher."

Trent stumbled over a rock, fumbling with his GPS and almost dropping it. "Dr. Oliver? How do I know you're telling me the truth."

Wes rolled up his sleeve. "Two morphers help?"

"Look," Trent said, still backing away, "I'm booking it out of here. I want to find a nice place in the middle of the woods where I can play hermit."

"I'm sorry, Trent, we really can't let you do that," Wes said, gently. "You've got some pretty worried teammates back home."

Trent shook his head. "I'm sorry. I just can't."

Eric pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, offering it to Trent. "At least call them, let them know you're all right. It'll be easier on you in the long run--trust me on that one." He looked at Wes, snorting a little on shared recollection.

"I don't want to," Trent said, still backing away, though not running quite yet. "If you know Dr. O, tell him I'm all right."

"Look, we know about the Dino Gem," Taylor said, holding her hands out, as if to prove that she was harmless. "We want to help, but your teammates are the ones best equipped to do so."

Trent ran a hand through his hair, not sure why they didn't understand. "They're not my teammates. I tried to destroy them!"

"Think you're the only Ranger to try to destroy teammates?" Taylor asked, raising her eyebrows. "Trust me, you're not. One of my teammates tried it--of course, he was possessed by an evil spirit at the time."

"He's not one of them." Trent indicated Eric and Wes.

"I wish I saw him that often," Taylor said, instinctively understanding why Trent was asking.

"Eric wasn't a lot of fun at first either," Wes cracked.

Eric smirked.

"It's different," Trent said miserably.

"Evil spirit, evil Dino Gem, not really," Taylor said.

"You should've heard Tommy on the phone, he's really worried about you," Wes said. He bit his lip, then added, "He says the Yellow Ranger's pretty broken up about it too."

Trent's eyes darkened. "I'm not in control of my powers! I'm a danger to K--everyone! Including you!"

"No, you're not," Wes said, reassuringly, touching his morpher. "We're tough."

"Trent, they can help you," Taylor wheedled. "Isn't it worth it to go back so that you can live a life free of fear?"

"They can't. I can *see* that they can't." He shook his head. "You guys need to get out of here before I blow up everything."

"Trent...." Wes began, before Trent pulled away.

Trent broke out in a run, surprising the three elder Riders with his speed. Wes started swearing and ran after him.

Taylor grabbed Eric's hand, pulling in the direction of his car. "Let's get in the car and head him off."

They raced for the SUV, aware time was of the essence.

Taylor slammed the door, shaking her head before remarking, "I didn't know your teammate could curse like a sailor."

"He has his moments." Eric started the engine.

* * *

"Trent!" Wes bellowed.

Trent could hear the man yelling for him. He could feel an urge to go away, to let his Power take over and take care of the intruder. He started shaking in fear of that urge, but kept running. He couldn't give into it. "Gotta get out of here."

"Trent, let us help!"

"I don't know how much longer I can keep from morphing," Trent snapped over his shoulder. "Get out of here before you get hurt."

Any slack Dr. O was willing to cut him over the amber thing would not count for much if he managed to hurt civilians. Trent knew Dr. O would be mad then.

"No," Wes said, panting. He brought up his morpher, not even slowing down. "I can defend myself."

"I nearly k--destroyed Kira. And I love her!" Trent colored as he realized what he had just said. "I don't know you from Adam!"

"He's the Green Zeo Ranger. Has curly hair?" Wes said helpfully.

Trent groaned at the inside joke. "That's not what I meant." Then he jogged off again, quickly losing the other Ranger.

Taylor and Eric pulled ahead of Wes, stopping to look at him.

"Great job, guys, he went that way!" Wes exclaimed, pointing in the direction Trent had gone. "I couldn't talk any sense into him."

"Damn stubborn formerly evil Rangers," Taylor muttered, shaking her head.

* * *

Trent was still running when he came to a road and started walking into town.

He carefully cased out the Silver Hills Bus Depot for the black jeep with the funny license plate. After not seeing it, he slipped inside, perusing the bus schedule. Blue Bay Harbor... Tech City... Angel Grove... Mariner Bay.... Angel Grove sounded nice. And it was near all sorts of out of the way places. Trent marched up to the ticket window and bought a ticket.

Then he looked at his money, frowning. He'd have to be careful, but he needed to eat *something*. This running away stuff was hard work.

* * *

The bus pulled into Angel Grove a few hours later, and Trent stepped off of it with some relief. He looked around cautiously as he disembarked, in case those military types had someone watching the buses on this end.

No one looked suspicious, so he went into the bus depot, stopped in the men's room, then headed out into the bright sunshine of Angel Grove to contemplate his next move.

As he attempted to step clear of the bus station, a complete stranger stopped him. "This may seem kind of weird, but are you Trent Fernandez?"

Trent wondered what god he'd offended to bring everybody looking for him. "Why does everybody know my name?"

The man shrugged. "You worry your teammates and every Ranger on-planet gets an APB. Especially when your team mentor is Tommy Oliver. He's... got issues he's still working out."

"Good for him," Trent said, pushing past. The last thing he needed was Dr. Oliver's issues on top of his own.

The man grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Look, Trent, we're trying to help."

"Let go of me!" Trent snapped loudly, squirming against his grip.

"Calm down, you're causing a scene," the man hissed, smiling at a passerby. "My half brother here is a real pain."

"Damn right I'm causing a scene!" Trent shouted, "A complete stranger has a hold of my arm!"

"My name's Jason Scott. I'm a friend of Dr. Oliver's--" his voice dropped considerably--"and the original Red Ranger. Look, Trent, you're 16. You're scared, you don't know what's happening to you. Tommy's been a Ranger for over ten years--you've been one for a couple of weeks. We have a lot of experience with--well, similar stuff to this--and we've got some of our best minds on the problem. Which, incidentally, is quite a collection."

"Let go or I'll really start screaming," Trent threatened.

"Promise to hear me out and I'll let go," Jason said calmly, his grip not letting up an iota.

Trent glared. "All right."

Something screeched above him. Trent tensed, preparing to run away once more.

Jason chuckled at his reaction. "Looks like Taylor's pretty worried."

Trent glared at him, staring nervously at the sky.

"It's OK, it's just her Eagle zord," Jason said. "She probably got an earful from Tommy when they spotted you near Silver Hills and didn't manage to get you back to Reefside. She probably sent it to look for you."

"Can't you call it off?" Trent asked nervously, eyeing the huge metallic bird hovering above.

"I can't," Jason shrugged. "Taylor can. Tell you what, you come and have a talk with me, and I'll tell her to call her zord off."

Trent nodded, deflating considerably.

Jason brought up a cell phone. "Hey, Taylor, I found him, you can call off your zord. Look, he's panicked, we don't want him to you-know-what...."

"What's she-knows-what?" Trent asked, wrinkling his nose in consternation.

"We'll see," Jason said, shaking his head in frustration. "Look, Taylor, I only got him to agree to talk to me by promising to get you to call off the zord." He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Thank you, Taylor."

"What was that about?" Trent asked.

Jason shrugged, as if it were nothing. "Taylor's stubborn. Don't worry, if the Eagle doesn't disappear, I'll just sic her Red Ranger on her." As if on cue, the Eagle Zord turned around, flying in the direction it had come from. "You like Chinese food, Trent?"

"Huh?" Trent asked, feeling a bit stupid.

"Lunch," Jason said patiently

"I'm really not that hungry," Trent said, hoping if he didn't look pathetic he'd get out of there without being sent home.

Trent's stomach growled traitorously, and Jason looked amused. "Chinese? Or American?"

Trent shrugged, giving up for the moment. "Whatever you want. I really don't have that much of an appetite."

"We'll see how you feel once there's food in front of you," Jason said, putting a hand on Trent's shoulder and steering him down the street. "How about here?" he asked, indicating a restaurant marked "Mandarin Garden."

"Ok," Trent said, following Jason inside, hoping that he could talk the other Ranger into letting him go back home on his own. Or not. Preferably not.

"Order anything on the menu, I know how the Ranger appetite is," Jason said.

"Right," Trent said, concentrating on the menu and yawning.

"Or we could just go to my house, and you could crash on my couch," Jason suggested, looking at Trent with concerned eyes.

Trent squirmed uncomfortably. Was this guy nuts? Trent didn't know him from Adam, he wasn't going to sleep on a stranger's couch! "No, thanks. I'm fine. Really."

The waiter came, and Trent shrugged off trying to be adventurous, pointing at the cashew chicken, his favorite. Jason ordered. Trent stared at his place mat.

"Funny how they all have the Chinese zodiac, isn't it?" Jason asked.

Trent shrugged without looking up.

"Tommy's not angry about the amber," Jason said gently. "You're not the first one to do bad things he has no control over. Tommy was. He's been there, he's done that, and he's not going to hold it against you."

"He forgave me, just like that?" Trent asked incredulously, staring at Jason. "He doesn't know what it's like!"

"Um... actually, he was Earth's first evil Ranger," Jason said, looking at him as calmly as possible--and trying not to be annoyed with Trent's thick skull. "He's not angry. He understands."

Trent shook his head. "No he doesn't."

"You'd be surprised," Jason said, folding his hands and still looking at him as if he wanted to impart some tidbit of wisdom. "And if Rita's spell isn't close, well, there's always the one she cast on Kat. Karone and Ryan were raised to be evil, Mike and Merrick were possessed by spirits with other ideas, and Blake and Hunter... well, we don't know a lot about the Ninja Storm Rangers, but the reliable information on the Urban Legends sites certainly suggests that at first they were evil and now they're not--Hayley can't get Cam Watanabe to talk."

"Great," Trent said, meaning it. So, these other people might have been evil, so what? Probably none of them had ambered their teacher. "I still want to be left alone."

Jason frowned, clearly not liking that response. "Trent, from what I'm told, Mesogog won't stop looking until he finds you. The only advantage you have is that he doesn't know who you are."

Trent stared at his place mat again. He was in big trouble, wasn't he?

"Trent, is there something you maybe should tell me?" Jason prompted gently.

"Um..." Trent shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He thought Dr. O's penetrating looks were discomforting. He felt like Jason could see right through him.

"Did Mesogog discover your identity?"

Trent nodded, feeling like a deer caught in headlights.

"Great." Jason looked down for a minute, then turned his gaze back to Trent. "Trent, now isn't a good time to be alone. If he knows who you are, can find you, then he could force your gem to take over completely. You won't be you anymore."

"He doesn't have to force it--he knows it will happen," Trent said miserably, remembering Mesogog's threat.

"Did he tell you that?" Jason asked, raising one eyebrow.

Trent nodded, wishing that his father had sent him far, far away.

"Did it ever occur to you he told you that to get you to quit fighting it?" Jason asked.

Trent looked up at Jason, staring. "Quit fighting it?" he echoed.

"Ranger enemies are kinda like Saturday morning cartoon villains: they fight dirty," Jason told him. "Very dirty."

"But... I can feel it happening," Trent said. "I remember wanting to k--k--" Trent got annoyed and buried his face in his hands. Why couldn't he say it?

"That's an annoying side effect of the Power," Jason said gently, though his voice was smiling. "Use 'destroy'."

"They're not monsters!" Trent exclaimed, looking up and looking Jason straight in the eye. "And I wanted to hurt them! I can remember *wanting* to." Trent shuddered.

"But you didn't," Jason emphasized. "Look, Tommy told me about Golden Rod the day he gave you a ride home. You have it in you--you'll make a great Ranger. But you need to realize you can best protect your teammates, your home, and everyone by *fighting* the evil leanings of the gem."

Trent leaned heavily on the table, wishing that the other man would understand. "But they won't accept me. I've Seen it." How could he explain that he could see what had happened?

"Difficult to know the future, always in motion it is," Jason said sagely.

Trent shook his head, then looked Jason up and down carefully. "You're too tall to be Yoda."

Jason smiled at him, as if in understanding. "True. But we don't know how these visions work, Trent. Have you seen the past before?"

Trent nodded, thinking of the flashes that allowed him to realize he was the White Ranger. He still wasn't sure if they were memory or what, since his new powers were unpredictable.

"How do you know that's not what you're seeing now?" Jason leaned in a little, staring Trent right in the eyes.

Trent shook his head, wondering how he'd tell this stranger. Some things... well, you just knew. "I just know." He got up, and his head felt as if it were filled with sand and being shuttled around on a tilt-a-whirl. Trent sat down again abruptly.

Jason frowned at him. "Are you OK?"

"I will be," Trent said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. Probably not the case, but he had to try.

Jason put a hand on Trent's arm. "Stay, eat. You look like you haven't had a good meal in a couple weeks."

Trent shrugged off the touch. He hadn't really been eating that well, but he hadn't had much choice. And he couldn't decide if he could really trust this guy. Sure, he knew about the Power Rangers and the amber but... OK, yeah, Dr. O wouldn't tell anyone who couldn't be trusted. And how else could he know?

One of Mesogog's goons wouldn't be feeding him.

Jason watched him quietly and then grabbed his cellphone as it began to ring. He instinctively picked it up. "Jason here." He paused to look at Trent. "No, he's here with me. I'm feeding him lunch. And talking to him about some things."

Trent had gone wide-eyed, gotten up, and started backing away. He looked like a frightened rabbit instead of a young man.

"I'll call you back," Jason said to his caller and closed his cell phone in time to catch Trent's arm. He stood, preventing Trent from leaving. "It's OK. Please, stay. If you won't take any other help, at least eat something, you look like you've been living off peanuts from vending machines."

Jason's phone started ringing again, but he held tight to Trent's arm, ignoring the phone. Trent stared at Jason, eyeing him skeptically, as if the man were growing a third head.

A waiter came with a tray of food. "Am I interrupting?" he asked.

Trent skittered into his seat, suddenly ravenous and not able to take his eyes off the food. The waiter served the two lunch plates and Trent attacked his with gusto.

Jason smiled. "Good boy." He watched Trent nearly inhale the food for a few minutes before slowly starting on his own. "You hungry?"

Trent put down his fork and swallowed, then took a sip of water, relaxing for a moment. "Yeah. I've been hungry since I left Reefside."

"Ranger metabolism's a bear. Especially if you're still growing." Jason adapted a faraway smile. "We used to scare our parents with our appetites."

"Is that why I'm continually hungry?" Of course, not knowing what was going on half the time had played havoc with his meal schedule. And being on the run hadn't helped much either.

"High protein helps--but don't go on one of these low carb diet things everyone's so into, you need those too. The trick is not to give into the temptation of having too much junk food. I used to carry granola bars around in my backpack." He watched Trent eat, a nostalgic smile still on his face. "I should've picked something that wouldn't have you hungry again an hour later."

Trent shrugged. "I'll live."

Jason's phone rang again. Satisfied that Trent was busy eating, he picked it up and looked at the caller ID. "William Cranston? How...." He answered the call. "Hey Billy... I see... Look, I don't think... That's not what...." He looked up and waved at someone. "Over here, you highly patient person."

Trent look up and froze as another person joined them. He wondered if bolting would be a good idea, or if he'd be chased by the stupid Eagle again. "What?"

"Trent, meet Billy Cranston, one of my teammates and one of the most brilliant minds in the universe," Jason said, indicating the other man, who was smiling.

Trent's gaze shifted around the restaurant, looking for a quick exit. "Um, hi?"

Billy extended his hand to him. "Pleased to meet you." They shook, and then Billy turned to Jason. "Sorry I've been busy lately, with Cestria and all."

Jason shrugged, as if it was an everyday occurrence. "It happens, man."

The waiter approached the table and affected a snooty accent. "Can I get you something, sir?"

"Mongolian beef, please," Billy replied smoothly, as if he didn't realize the waiter was trying to be obnoxious. He sat in the empty chair between Trent and Jason.

The waiter huffed, but went to place Billy's order with the kitchen.

Trent squirmed uncomfortably. Where had this guy come from? Was he going to drag Trent back to Reefside? Trent started looking for a polite way to excuse himself. "Um... " He gave up on polite, wondering just how far he could get if he ran for it.

Billy turned to Trent, smiling encouragingly. "Hayley and I have a couple of theories on how to help you, but we really need to examine you before we can get any farther."

Trent rubbed a hand over his face. When would these well-meaning but misinformed people stop going after him? He just wanted to be left alone.

Billy put a hand on Trent's shoulder. "Look, Trent, they're not mad."

"Yeah, right." Trent shook his head.

"In fact, Kira wanted me to tell you she misses you." Billy smirked, winking at Jason.

Trent got up. Now they were using Kira against him, that just wasn't cool. Kira was a person, not a weapon. "That's it, I'm going." He had to get out of there. They didn't understand.

Billy pulled him back down, with a strength that belied his geeky looks. "Stay, finish your lunch. Eat Jason's crab rangoons, he never does."

"Besides, you need to eat, or you're going to have problems. If you're sick, you might not be able to control your Power," Jason pointed out.

Trent rubbed his face again, trying to figure out how to get these strange people to leave him alone. "Right," he muttered sarcastically. Then his head jerked back as he saw a monster attacking a city.

Jason studied him carefully, give him a wide smile. "Innocent in trouble?"

Trent stared at him. An incredulous look spread across his space. "What?"

"Sorry," Jason shrugged. "I've been watching too much Charmed." He frowned at Trent. "Are you OK?"

"I saw a cross between a lizard and a telephone pole," Trent said simply, as if his vision should have been obvious.

"Huh?" Billy asked.

"And I thought I was joking about the premonitions," Jason added, looking at Trent intently.

"Monster. Attacking the city." Trent played with his napkin, as if it could teleport him out of there.

"Here?" Billy asked, leaning forward, fascinated.

Trent shook his head, hoping he didn't look as haunted as he felt. "I don't know."

Billy started running a scan as Jason picked up his cell phone. "I'll call Tommy and give him the heads up. He can warn anybody else who's active."

While Jason was calling, Billy leaned forward once again. "Trent, when you morph...."

Trent shook his head, unwilling to describe what he'd seen, but knowing he was needed. "I don't even remember it most of the time." He rose from the table, knowing he had no time for scientific inquiries. Or pseudoscientific inquiries. "I've got to go."

Jason grabbed his arm. "What aren't you telling us?"

Trent shook Jason off. "I need to go." He rushed out of restaurant and jogged to nearest alley. "Great. Now I have to figure out how to morph. Consciously."

"I could tell you, but I can think of about a dozen reasons why you shouldn't right now." Billy stood at the entrance to the alley with his arms crossed.

Trent stared in disbelief. "What?" he managed to gasp out, and was amazed it was intelligible.

"You have the heart of a Ranger; I had a suspicion." Billy shrugged. "Jason's holding the table. He wasn't having any luck persuading you. Consequently, it's my turn."

"But I'm going to be there!" Trent argued. "Any minute now."

Billy approached him slowly, as if dealing with a frightened kitten. "Come back to the lab with me. Maybe the scans will tell Hayley and me enough for you to morph safely."

Trent sighed, realizing he'd been outmaneuvered, and muttered, "I knew I should have gone to Blue Bay Harbor." He let Billy lead him to an area out of sight from the street.

Billy picked up a cell phone and called Hayley, all the while holding Trent's arm tightly. Soon, the alley dissolved into sparkles and Trent found himself blinking in a room he'd never seen before.

"You found him!" Hayley exclaimed as a room materialized around them.

Billy shrugged and released his grip. "Jason found him, I just convinced him to come."

Hayley ran up, enveloping Trent in a hug.

"I'm getting out of here," Trent muttered, as he squirmed away. He didn't want to put his boss--former boss--in danger. He liked Hayley; he didn't want to hurt her.

"Trent, sit down. We're going to get you through this," Hayley said firmly. She lead him by the shoulders and sat him down on a low-slung metal table. He tried to keep still as Hayley and Billy worked on scanning him, but if he closed his eyes, he could see that monster again. And that he was going to fight it.

"Are you feeling okay?" Hayley asked, her voice laced with concern.

Trent scrubbed a hand over his face, then opened his eyes. "Did you have to turn out the forces of several Ranger teams after me?"

"I think Tommy called everybody. Why?" Billy looked puzzled, as if it didn't make sense to him why Trent would ask him that.

"It was freaking me out!" Trent exclaimed. "I had all these people who knew me, and I didn't know them!"

Billy frowned. "So this doesn't have anything to do with the vision?"

Hayley looked from Billy to Trent. "Vision?" she asked.

"Lizard-telephone pole," Trent said unhelpfully, not feeling particularly cooperative.

"In English?" Hayley asked, looking from Trent to Billy with a bewildered expression.

"He saw a monster that hasn't appeared yet," Billy explained, gesturing towards Trent.

"I'm fighting it," Trent added. "With the others." The last was more afterthought than statement.

Hayley sighed, not keen on sending her possessed busboy into battle. "Well, maybe we'll figure something out. Let's take a look at these scans."

"Can I go now?" Trent asked. "I mean, there's going to be a battle soon. I think."

The alarm began to blare, and Hayley forgot the scans, plopping into a chair at the computer console and typing rapidly. The comm bleeped open. "Guys, we've got a monster in Little Tokyo."

"I've got to go," Trent said starting to get up.

"We're not finished with these scans," Billy pointed out. "Don't go anywhere."

"Trent, *sit*," Hayley said, in her 'boss' voice. Trent sat obediently.

"Tommy here. What kind of monster?" Dr. O was asking Hayley.

"Some kind of combination of a lizard and a telephone pole," Hayley said, "as predicted by Trent."

"He called?" Dr. O asked hopefully, sounding more pleased than was warranted.

"Jason found him, I dragged him back," Billy explained.

"Thanks, bro!" Dr. O said, definitely happy about something. "We'll get on the monster, you guys take care of Trent, OK?"

"We will," Billy promised, smiling.

"Great," Dr. O said. "Out."

Hayley's cell phone rang, and she picked it up. "What's up Jason? Oh, you want... hold on." She handed the phone to Billy.

Billy answered. "Jason?" He paused. "Sure. Just a second." He played with a control and Jason appeared, holding a bag stamped with the Mandarin Garden logo.

"Want your lunch, Billy?" Jason asked, holding it out, his tone chiding.

Billy grinned, much as he had at the waiter. "Much appreciated, thanks."

Trent kicked his legs against the bed's support. Jason went over to him, putting the food down on the way. "How are you feeling, Trent?" he asked. "Better?"

"Like I need to go into battle," Trent responded, kicking at the support once again. Maybe if he kicked enough, they would let him go.

Jason clapped Trent on the shoulder. "See? The heart of a Ranger."

"Give me a couple minutes to jury rig something, and I think we can arrange that," Hayley said, though she sounded less than thrilled at the prospect.

"Brain waves?" Billy asked hopefully. Trent looked up, wishing they'd stop the scientific gobbledygook and just fix his problem.

"Yup," Hayley replied brightly, hitting some buttons as she did so.

Trent looked from one to the other in confusion. "Since you're talking about me, want to let me in on what's going on?"

"If you're determined to go out, we want to make sure you don't bust up the city," Hayley said simply.

"Sounds like an idea," Trent said, not sure how that was supposed to answer his question. He knew that was the goal, but he didn't know what brain waves had to do with anything.

"We don't want the Dino Gem persona taking over either," Billy added.

Trent bit back a "Well, duh."

"It seems like the White Ranger persona does something to your brain waves. I think I know a way to stabilize them," Hayley said, typing in some more commands.

"Oh?" Trent asked, still not sure what to make of anything. Hayley started talking technobabble to Billy while Trent scuffed the floor with his shoe.

"Looks like Tommy needs to run the rookies through a few more training sessions," Jason remarked casually, watching the battle on the screen.

"Can I go?" Trent whined, fighting a bizarre urge to stick his tongue out at Jason. Billy finished doing something with a big metal headband. He hoped that whatever it was, it would fix his problem.

"Here, try this on," Billy said, holding it out to him

Trent looked at the headband, ignoring Billy's invitation. "Wonderful." His disgust at its looks was ignored as Billy fitted the headband on.

"Now you can help," Hayley said tentatively. "But... are you sure?"

"I Saw myself there," Trent said, vaguely feeling as though he were reassuring a worried mother.

Hayley gave him a grim nod. "Do you know how to morph?"

Trent frowned. "That might be a problem. I've never consciously morphed before. The nearest I came to was when Mesogog kidnapped me and I freaked."

"Try saying 'Dino Thunder, Power Up,'" Hayley said helpfully. She still looked worried, though.

"Okay." Trent twisted his wrist. "Dino Thunder, Power Up."

The morpher appeared, and Trent's form shimmered as he took in his armor. The room dissolved and was replaced by the Japanese portion of Reefside. The Dragozord was soon at his side.

"Oh, boy," Conner said as Trent hopped in. He sounded worried.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm driving this time, thanks to Hayley," Trent said, attacking the monster. Hoping Conner was reassured by his megazord's sword going into the monster, not the other Rangers' zords.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Ethan's voice cracked over the comm. "I mean...."

"Hayley cleared me," Trent said as his megazord kicked the monster into the others' Dino Drill. "I'll explain later, okay?"

"Guys, let's concentrate on the monster, okay?" Dr. O instructed over the comm. "Worry about Trent later."

"Right," Kira agreed. His heart warmed a bit when he heard her voice, with no suspicion laced in it.

The monster shook under the assault from the Dino Drill, and Trent swooped in with his megazord to finish it off. It unceremoniously blew up.

Trent shortly thereafter found himself back in the lab, with the rest of the team.

"Trent!" Kira exclaimed the moment they were demorphed. She hugged him. Tightly.

Trent blushed.

"Have you been eating enough?" Dr. O asked critically, looking him up and down.

Trent rolled his eyes. First Hayley, now Dr. O. He *had* a father, thank you very much.

"I guess the thing you did really worked, Dr, O," Kira said, letting go of Trent (though she held on to his hand). Kira was practically bouncing.

Dr. O grinned broadly. "Ten teams of Power Rangers are more effective than the FBI."

"See, Conner?" Ethan teased. "Running away from home won't get you out of midterms."

Dr. O laughed at the joke. "My makeup exams are worse, anyway."

Jason glanced at Billy, raising an eyebrow. "He had to take a leaf out of Ms. Appleby's book?"

"That would explain the military guys, the air force pilot, and these two," Trent said, indicating Billy and Jason.

"Military guys? Air Force pilot?" Dr. O echoed. "Who?"

"Eric and Wes and Taylor, respectively," Jason said, laughing. He turned to Trent. "Didn't they explain to you that they were Rangers?"

Trent shrugged. "Nobody warned me I'd end up being chased by a couple of cars, a giant eagle, and accosted at the bus station in Angel Grove, either. The fact that they were Rangers wasn't exactly comforting. For all I knew, they wanted revenge for what I've done."

"Rangers don't take revenge," Billy said. "Especially on teammates."

"This just goes to show you, don't worry your teammates," Jason added.

"They're not...." Trent replied.

"Yes. We are," Dr. O interrupted.

Trent stared. "Excuse me, I turned you into a fossil. That's usually not a nice act." He turned his attention to the floor, arms brought to his chest.

"Look, Trent, that wasn't you," Dr O said gently, squeezing Trent's shoulder. "Believe me, I understand that."

"I'm still not part of the team. I know that you and Kira accept me, but...." Trent trailed off as Dr. O glared at him. "What?"

"Ok, you and I are going to have a chat. Come on," Dr. O said, gesturing towards the stairs.

Trent sighed. "All right." What had he done to anger the other Ranger this time?

Kira let go of him, her face falling.

Dr. O patted Kira's shoulder affectionately on the way to the stairs. "Don't worry, I won't keep him too long."

Trent followed his teacher up the steps.

Ethan looked at the others. "Didn't he get the bulletin about us hearing all about Dr. O's start as a Ranger? I mean, Trent was freaky, but the Green Ranger wasn't exactly a picnic either."

Jason shrugged. "I think he Saw you and Conner before you accepted that. He seems to be getting psychic visions."

Ethan shook his head. "This is so not good."

Kira sat down, looking up at the stairs. "I foresee him having problems with that power."

"You think?" Conner asked sarcastically as he, too, looked at the stairs.

* * *

The moment they were in Dr. Oliver's kitchen, Trent rounded on his teacher, trying to control his anger. "Dr. Oliver, what in the heck did you do?"

"Huh?" Dr. Oliver wrinkled his nose. "And you can call me Dr. O outside of school if you like," he added as an afterthought.

"Last I left you, you were a fossil. A week later, I show up in Silver Hills and everybody's looking for me!" Trent paced, gesturing wildly.

Dr. O gestured for Trent to have a seat at the kitchen table. "Calm down, Trent."

Trent sat, taking a couple of deep breaths.

Dr. Oliver sat across from him. "It's called an all-Ranger alert. It's only been employed twice--the last time was when Kelsey Winslow from Lightspeed Rescue went backpacking in Yosemite for a week without telling anyone where she was going. Her teammates freaked out and gave everyone the heads up to keep an eye out for her. She blew into Turtle Cove and Alyssa Enrile had Kelsey check in with her team." Dr. Oliver sighed. "Look, Trent, you were scared, possibly hurt, and the gem could've taken over again at any time. We couldn't track you, and we had to do something."

Trent sighed, resting his head on his folded arms. "Great. So I get to be alert victim number two. I had the impression I wasn't welcome, nor did I blame anyone for that."

"Well, you were mistaken," Dr. O said, reaching out to squeeze Trent's shoulder. "Look, Trent, I got my original Ranger Powers from Rita Repulsa. I tried to destroy my original team--broke into their megazord and everything. They never held it against me."

Trent raised an eyebrow at his teacher. "Yeah, right."

"Don't believe me? Go downstairs and ask Jason and Billy if they ever held it against me. Billy, who came all the way from another planet to help you just because I asked. If you want more proof, you can call Zack, Kim, and Trini. They all saw me at my worst." Dr. O spoke with confidence, but all it made Trent want to do was disappear against the nearest wall.

He avoided doing so, just because he didn't want any more trouble. But why didn't Dr. O understand? He had to get out of there before he *did* panic and vanish. "I'm tired. I want to go home."

Dr. O nodded, clearly letting it go for the moment. Maybe more. Trent was hopeful. "OK, let me give you a lift. Smooth things over with your Dad."

Trent scratched his nose nervously, remembering his father's reaction to his science teacher. "Um... I thought that you and Dad didn't get along."

"True. I just... There's really nothing I can do to help besides drop you off, is there?" Dr. O asked, shifting with equal discomfort.

"What would you tell him? That you kept me in detention for a week? I thought you *liked* your job," Trent pointed out. His father had influence in a lot of things, and he didn't want to get Dr. O in trouble.

"I'll figure it out." Dr. Oliver shrugged, as if his job were the last thing on his mind at that time.

"Drop me off. I'll be okay, with this thing Hayley rigged." Trent touched the headband nervously. What was his father going to say when he saw it? Would he have time to notice? Trent was probably in for a hell of a grounding.

Dr. O sighed, but caved in, briefly touching Trent's shoulder. "Ok. This team probably holds a record for the least groundings doled out to teenage Rangers anyway."

Trent managed a weak smile. "Thanks."

"Come on, the sooner we get you home, the sooner the lecture will be over." Dr. O guided Trent to his jeep.

Trent paused as Dr. O unlocked the door. "Dr. O? Thanks."

"No problem." He reached in his pockets and handed Trent a weird-looking square thing. "Hayley's not sure if your Dino Brace can be connected to the comm system. In the meantime, you can use this to call me--or the others. If you need to talk, you use it to call me. Anytime. I mean it, three o'clock in the morning, I don't care." Dr. O's eyes were haunted, as if he were remembering dark times.

Trent took the thing, staring at it before putting it in a pocket. It would be pretty ugly, but easier to explain than the headband. "Thanks, Dr. O. Now, how am I going to explain the headband thingy?"

Dr. O looked thoughtful, as if realizing the difficulties. "Um.... I've got a Reefside Ravens baseball cap. Hang on a minute." He ran back inside. It seemed to take forever before he ran back out with a baseball cap. "Here, put this on."

"Thanks," Trent said gratefully as he got in. He studied the cap and its stylized Raven before putting it on. "It's been a long day."

"I know," Dr. O responded, starting the jeep and driving off.

* * *

"Tommy's taking Trent home," Hayley said, coming downstairs with a mug of decaf coffee. "I know you wanted to scan him more, Billy, but the guy's exhausted."

Billy nodded, still studying the readings. "I'm sure. We've got enough data to go on for awhile. And Trent's been through enough without being turned into a lab rat."

Kira leaned against the wall, slumping against Ethan in exhaustion. "I'm just glad you guys were there for him. All of you."

"That's what Rangers do." Jason shrugged, as if it weren't a big deal.

"Yeah, but Tommy's not your teammate anymore," Conner pointed out, moving so that he and Ethan were now flanking Kira, as if he and could hold her up by their proximity.

"Yeah," Jason clapped Conner on the shoulder, "he is. Sorry, rookie, but your team's a lot bigger than you think."

"Rookie?" Ethan asked, grinning.

"Hey, I can live with that," Conner said, giving his teammate a slight shrug.

Hayley chuckled, stretching lazily. "You should see them all together--it's a sight to behold."

Jason grinned at that, as if remembering the last beach party. "Welcome to the wide world of the Power Rangers. As Trent learned, you're part of a really *big* group now."

"Right, no disappearing without letting Dr. O know," Kira said, shuddering. "At least unless we want a bunch of people after us."

"How come we haven't gotten any all Ranger alerts before?" Conner asked Jason curiously. "I mean, we're Rangers now...."

"It's only been used twice," Jason said, interrupting him. "Trent was the second. And the first time was a couple of years ago."

"Were they OK?" Kira's head jerked up, as if afraid something awful had happened. After all, the system wasn't used much.

"Yeah," Jason shook his head, grinning. "Just forgot to tell someone where they were going."

"You don't drop out of communication with this group, I see." Kira slumped against the wall again, suppressing another shudder.

"Not unless you want to meet somebody's Zord looking for you," Jason replied, grinning wickedly.

Kira shuddered, no longer able to prevent it.

"You cold?" Ethan asked, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulders.

Kira shook her head.

Billy ignored the younger rangers' quiet conversation, picking up on Jason's last comment instead. "Moving to another planet helps," he said ruefully, glancing at the bag of Chinese food. "But I've gotten officially coded 'where the hell are you' messages on occasion. So even that's not fool proof."

"Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated?" Ethan asked, grinning. "It's a joke," he whispered to Kira, who nodded.

"Pretty much," Billy said, with a shrug. "Of course, it helps that I work with another planet's Rangers."

Jason nodded. "Trent was pretty much a 'find him *now*' case, due to his particular circumstances. When Kelsey went missing, it was more of a 'if you see her, make her check in' thing--and once Alyssa lent her a cell phone, that ended the other teams' involvement."

"So she called and that was the end of it?" Kira asked, as if unsure what the consequences were for her boyfriend.

"I heard Carter, the Red Ranger on her team, giving her grief via phone six months later," Jason said, "but that's all."

Kira stood up straight, turning to Conner. "And if you ever do that to me," she said, smiling sweetly, "I'll make you regret it."

Conner shrugged, as if not worried about the possibilities. "I'm not team leader."

Jason looked at him strangely for a moment, then resumed. "Trent's case was more along the lines of an active find-and-send-home. Though given his age--most of us wanted to actually *take* him there."

"Exactly why if an Alert was put out on the rest of you, it would be of the same type," Hayley pointed out to the others. "Kelsey's an adult. You're not."

"Trent was in danger of morphing," Kira responded, hoping to heck she wouldn't find herself in the same situation. "We wouldn't have that problem at least."

"Let's not even go *there*." Jason shuddered.

Billy took out a take out container, eyeing it carefully, and then dug through the bag, searching for something.

"There's forks upstairs," Hayley pointed out, catching his search out of the corner of her eye. "And plates and a microwave if you want."

"Thanks," Billy said, heading upstairs in search of the required items.

"I'm just glad you guys were able to find him," Kira said to Jason. "Though I guess we're going to be hearing about this for some time to come." She frowned, suspecting her boyfriend was going to be seriously ticked off at the team about the incident.

"Wouldn't you rather have him complaining than missing?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Kira proclaimed. "Especially with what he did when I saw him last." She thought of a piece of paper floating in a duck pond. It had felt so final and symbolic... but Trent was home now, safe. If not exactly thrilled at being a Ranger.

Jason nodded. "And I don't think he's going to try that again."

* * *

"Thanks for dropping me off," Trent said, digging his keys out of his backpack and hoping his father hadn't changed the locks. He then censored the irrational thought.

"No problem," Dr. O said as Trent climbed out of the jeep. "Good luck with your Dad."

"Thanks." Trent turned to go, reluctant to go through the doors.

"And Trent?" Dr. O called.

Trent stopped and turned, afraid of what his mentor would say.

"Call anytime. I mean it." Dr. O held Trent's eyes steadily as he spoke, his voice firm.

Trent nodded, then went up to the front door and let himself into the house. The key still worked. He gulped, then headed for his father's study. "Dad, I'm home."

His father's chair swung around, like a villain out of a cheesy spy movie, and his father looked at him, squinting. "Trent. Where have you been?"

"Um, out?" Trent said meekly, his eyes drifting to the carpet. "I kinda had some stuff to work out."

"For a week?" his father asked, raising both eyebrows. "Without leaving a note?"

"I left a note, on your door," Trent protested, pointing at the office door. He had left a note saying he was leaving--and that he hadn't known when he'd be back. Which didn't excuse his leaving but... OK, he was splitting hairs.

His father got up. Trent noticed he was shaking a little. He checked the door. "I don't see it."

"I left it!" Trent exclaimed. He wasn't 100% sure he had, but he thought he had. He was pretty sure. Had he left it on Dad's desk instead?

Trent's father turned, facing Trent and glaring. "Trent, you need to be more responsible than this."

"I..." Trent stammered. He couldn't tell his father why he'd really left. He wanted to sigh, but knew better. "I know. I'm sorry, Dad."

Anton Mercer sighed. "I expect you have homework to do, son." He waved Trent off dismissively, as though he were an employee he didn't want to deal with anymore.

Trent stared. He'd been expecting more of a lecture. Anger. Concern. His father wasn't exactly the huggy type, but he'd been expecting... something. He guessed. Ok, really? No. Just wishing. "Yeah, I guess I'd better call someone and get my assignments, huh?" He had Kira's cell phone number somewhere, right? Somewhere?

"Yes." Anton rubbed his face with a free hand, as if not sure to believe whether any of what happened had happened. "I'm sorry, son. It's just that... I know you're old enough to take care of yourself."

Trent didn't know what to say to that. Dr. O had been more concerned than his own father. How weird was *that*? But then again, Dr. O was a Ranger. Maybe that's what it was like. It probably was what it was like, given the all-Ranger alert.

"Go on," Anton said, motioning him out. "I'll talk to you later about this."

"Okay," Trent said, heading for his room. His stomach was starting to knot. He felt like he should be shaking, but wasn't.

He looked up Kira's cell phone number, glad he still had it. "Kira?"

"Hey, Trent. What's up? You sound kinda weirded out." Kira's voice was comforting over the phone. Trent wanted to be there, anywhere but where he was.

"Dad didn't even lecture me," Trent said, starting to shake at the reprieve. "Just told me to be more responsible and do my homework."

"Want to trade?" Kira joked weakly. "I can't get rid of my parents."

Trent sighed, swallowing the temptation to rebut her with an unmanly, "I bet your parents hug you." Instead, he just told her why he was calling. "What homework have you got? Dad wants me to do mine."

Kira gave him the assignments for the classes they shared, then pointed out Conner would have the assignment for his math class.

"Thanks. Is he there? Or have you gone home?"

"Hang on," Kira said brightly.

There was a swish as Kira handed Conner the phone.

"Hey," Conner said, sounding oddly cheerful. "What's up?"

"I need the math assignments for this week," Trent explained. "Since that's all Dad cares about right now."

"Weird," Conner said. Was that a note of sympathy in his voice or was Trent imagining it? "Hang on." There was a sound of rummaging through a backpack, then Conner started rattling off page and problem set numbers.

Trent took them down, pulling his math book and starting to look. "Thanks, man."

"Not a problem, Dude," Conner said sympathetically. That, or Trent was way too tired to notice things properly. "I take you didn't get too bad a lecture?"

"Other than that I should be more responsible, and I had to do my homework, no," Trent said, yawning. "It was weird. I guess he didn't call the police or anything."

"Very weird," Conner agreed.

Trent shrugged. "I should do my homework and get to bed. I am *so* tired...."

"Ok, man," Conner said sympathetically. "Rest well."

Trent said good-bye and hung up. Conner was actually being *nice*? He couldn't help but wonder just what Dr. O had said to the rest of the team. Probably to behave.

He yawned again as he started on his homework.

* * *

After the three younger Rangers had gone home, Tommy lounged on the sofa in his living room, with Hayley cuddling against him. Billy and Jason settled themselves onto armchairs nearby.

"So, bro, I take it you're going to have a parade of formerly evil Rangers through here in the next couple weeks?" Jason asked, taking a sip from his water glass.

"Trent certainly doesn't seem to be listening to me," Tommy sighed, taking Hayley's hand in his own.

"I'm sure you'll get through to him eventually," Billy said encouragingly, sipping his coffee.

"I know I will," Tommy said. "But it might help him to talk to someone other than me. Maybe Merrick. He's the closest in situation."

"We don't know where he is," Jason pointed out. "His teammates don't even know where he is."

"I'll be calling Karone anyway," Tommy said. "She can find him, or at least Zen-Aku."

"Karone can find Zen-Aku?" Jason looking at his friend quizzically.

"Karone can find *anything*," Tommy said, "And if Karone can find him, Hayley here can go bring Merrick for a visit. Since we don't always have use of your shuttle's teleporter, Billy."

"Glad to know I'm good for something," Hayley teased, squeezing Tommy's hand in amusement.

He stuck his tongue out at his girlfriend.

Jason chuckled at the sight. "I'm not sure if we should thank Rocky or smack him for introducing you two."

There was a flash of light that resembled a TV set turning on, and then Rocky was standing there as the four blinked to clear their retinas and Tommy nearly jumped up, disturbing Hayley--who forced him back into his seat.

Billy murmured, "Speak of the devil."

"Jeez, man, call first, the shades are up!" Tommy scolded.

"Or at least warn a girl!" Hayley added. "It's not like you needed a phone to tell me."

"Were your ears burning, man?" Jason asked, getting up to shake his hand.

"Nope, I heard Billy was on-planet," Rocky said, approaching Billy and clapping him mightily on the back.

Billy spluttered, nearly choking on the coffee he'd been sipping at the time. "Could you have picked a time when I wasn't trying to drink?"

Rocky ignored him. "Thought I'd drop by. Thanks for thinking to call me, Hayley."

Hayley smiled. "Proud to be of service."

"So, crisis over?" Rocky asked, turning to Tommy.

"Billy and Jason found him," Tommy said. "Hayley was so impatient I thought she'd go after him herself."

Hayley laughed. "I'm not that good."

Tommy started tickling her. "Yes, you are."

"Only at finding other Tomorrow People," Hayley squealed, trying to fight Tommy off.

"I knew there was a reason I introduced you two," Rocky chuckled.

"Why's that?" Billy asked.

"They're good for each other," Rocky said.

"Who'd have thought a Tomorrow Person and a Power Ranger would have gone for each other?" Jason mused.

Rocky shrugged innocently. "It had to happen eventually."

"I don't know, bro," Jason said, looking doubtful.

"Yeah," Rocky said, looking at Tommy and Hayley being so comfortable together on the couch, "it did."

* * *

Kira leaned into Trent at the CyberCafe, glad they couldn't be heard over the crowd. "It's nice that you were finally able to morph consciously this time."

Trent shrugged, trying to concentrate on either his food or his delinquent homework. "Not that I'm not glad that I can, but I'm not going to be in battle much."

"Trent, we need you," Kira responded, batting her eyelashes at her boyfriend. "Besides, wouldn't you like to piss off Mesogog?"

"Maybe a little," Trent said, wrapping an arm around her contentedly, and forgetting both homework and food. "Just as long as I can keep from pissing off Dr. O again."

"Well, just keep that headband on as much as possible and eat a lot, and he should be okay."

Trent chuckled, eyeing the full plate in front of him. "He's got Hayley in on the eating thing. It's kinda freaky."

"I think she's annoyed with herself over taking so long to get him out of the amber," Kira said quietly, snuggling against her boyfriend to get more comfortable. "She might be overcompensating in apology."

"Yeah." Trent studied the plate carefully, sneaking a quick glance at his boss. "I'm glad it took her a while, though. I wasn't in a great mood for most of that week."

"I don't blame you," Kira said. "But we could've helped."

"I've learned my lesson, OK?" Trent said defensively. "No more running away from teammates. I'm just glad I didn't have to put up with that Eric dude too long--he looked creepy."

"I bet," Kira said, remembering what Dr. O had said about him in his video diary. "You should have seen Dr. O. We got him out of there, the first thing he asked was where you were. He was calling people up before he fully realized what happened to him, I think."

"And Dad didn't even bother to call the cops," Trent said, thinking of how totally opposite the reactions between his teacher, his boss, and his father were. "How wrong is that?"

Kira sighed. "You sure you want to stay there?" she asked. "I mean, when your teacher is more concerned than your Dad...."

Trent took a series of deep breaths. "I know he means well. He's just bad at expressing things. Besides, where else would I go?"

"Yeah, OK," Kira said, looking him in the eyes in concern. "Just know that there's a lot of people who care about you if you need anything."

"I know," Trent said, kissing her forehead gently.

Kira hugged him warmly. "You going to be okay?"

Trent closed his eyes, pressing his nose against her forehead. "Yeah, but Mesogog's about to send down a monster."

Kira sighed, pulling away and standing up, then offering Trent a hand. "Should we give the team the heads up?"

"Yeah," Trent said, sighing in return. He waved Hayley over. "Hayley? Another one coming down."

"Thanks, Trent," Hayley said, bustling off to call the others.

Kira sighed, not really wanting to go fight a monster when she could be cuddling her boyfriend. "Do you see where?"

Trent shook his head. "It'll show up. I don't know where, just that it will." He sighed as he and Kira headed for the door. "Why did I get volunteered for the foresight power?"

"You're the last Ranger, you get stuck with whatever's left," Kira told him. "You wouldn't object to it so much if you could see Dr. O's pop quizzes coming."

Trent held open the door and grinned at her, though is was a wry grin, not a happy one. "No, I just get to see monsters, and stuff from the past."

"Dr. O said something about not using the Power for personal gain." Kira stepped outside and she looked up and down the street, trying to spot a monster. Like a monster would ever start out 50 stories tall.

Trent shrugged. "I can't control my precog, so it really doesn't come up, plus I only see battles and when more than one Ranger is involved."

"All four of us have Dr. O for science," Kira pointed out, leading Trent in a likely direction.

"Ever wish you had Mr. Peterson instead?" Trent asked as they headed down the street, towards somewhere safe to morph.

"Once or twice... a week," Kira said, honestly. "But it's strictly 'cause of the teacher-teammate thing--trust me on this, Dr. O's a much better teacher."

"Mr. Peterson barely gives pop quizzes," Trent pointed out quizzically.

"I said he was better, not easier." Kira shrugged, not really wanting to dwell on the subject. "I mean, *Conner's* doing well in his class. Conner fears science with a passion."

Trent sighed, not wanting to argue either. "Right. But I don't see non-Ranger-related stuff, at all."

Kira shrugged. "Ah well."

* * *

"Thanks for feeding me, Hayley." Trent licked the sauce from one of her famous curries off his fork, savoring the last bit of taste. "Good thing that I'll have enough room for dinner, too."

Hayley smiled at that. "Thanks. And, by the way...." She reached under the counter to reveal a baseball cap with the words "Hayley's Cyberspace" silk screened on it. "Here. You can advertise and hide the headband at the same time."

"Thanks," Trent said, switching it with the Reefside Ravens one Dr. O had lent him. "That's great for after school, but I can't wear a hat there, it's against the dress code."

"I know," Hayley said, looking thoughtful. "We're just going to have to trust you can keep control until I can come up with something that isn't so conspicuous."

Trent nodded, knowing that his boss was probably working on something. "The sooner the better, Dr. O keeps throwing me these worried looks in class and I think someone's going to suspect something soon. And the last thing he needs is someone scrutinizing his relationships with students."

"Well, we are worried, but neither of us can do anything about it," Hayley said as she took Trent's empty plate away. "We just have to keep you calm and not morphing."

"Put me on Prozac?" Trent half-joked. "I'm done panicking, really."

"I know." Hayley patted Trent on the head, messing up his baseball cap. "I'm just glad that you didn't have to go into battle today."

"Yeah, Dr. O kinda shooed me off." Trent straightened the hat and glared at Hayley. "And I'm glad I didn't have to morph."

Hayley studied him carefully, as if she wasn't sure what might set him off. "We'll fix this, Trent. I promise."

Trent managed a small smile. "I know." He looked out the window at the people going by. "I'd run, but I know where that got me last time."

"Your butt hauled back in by Jason Scott?" Hayley teased.

"He was better than the military guys," Trent said, taking the last sip of his milkshake.

"They're not military," Hayley pointed out. "Well, not Wes and Eric, anyway. Taylor, yes, but...."

Trent shook his head. "They gave off that military vibe."

Hayley leaned over the counter, looking all the world like a worried mom. Or a wise woman. "Look, you shouldn't be scared of your gifts. We all have them."

Trent looked at Hayley like she was nuts. "We? I don't see you morphing and fighting the bad guys."

"I'm rather attached to my lunch, thanks," Hayley said, looking sheepish. "Not that I don't occasionally get fantasies...."

"Huh?" Trent crinkled his nose in confusion. "Morphing causes you to lose your lunch?"

Hayley walked over to the windows and closed the blinds.

Trent's spider sense started tingling. He trusted Hayley, but what could she be planning that could cause her to want to lower the blinds? He started questioning his ability to judge character. "Um, Hayley...."

"Don't worry," Hayley soothed. "I just don't want somebody passing by and seeing this."

Trent gulped, fingering the communicator in his pocket--he might need it. "Seeing what?"

Hayley smiled mysteriously. "Watch." She closed her eyes, and in a flash of light, disappeared.

Trent jumped. "What the..."

Hayley reappeared, on the stage.

Trent stopped in mid-sentence, staring. He opened his mouth. Closed it again. "How... how did you do that?"

Hayley smiled again. "I don't know. I was born with the ability to do it--though I really didn't do it until I was sixteen."

Trent tried to get his mind around the concept. Gave up. Tried to get around it again. And stared some more, just for good measure.

"It's not something I talk about a lot," Hayley said in a soft voice, "But I can do it."

"I can see why," Trent managed. Hayley could do that? Did Dr. O know?

Hayley came back and sat down beside him, smiling gently. "See, being special isn't so bad. Especially if you've got people around you who are special too."

"You're not the only one who can do that?" Trent asked quietly.

"Well, there are fewer of us than there are Rangers," Hayley replied, looking thoughtful. "But yes."

Trent just stared. "Wow."

"It's also the reason you won't ever see me with a morpher," Hayley added with a grimace.

"Why not?" Trent wrinkled his nose. "That looks like a really good way to confuse tyrannodrones."

"No more than Conner's talent," Hayley answered with a shrug. "But I have good reason to. The last time one of us went into battle, it was a disaster." She joined Trent at the counter.

"Huh?" Trent asked, swiveling to face her.

"I can't kill," Hayley explained, reaching for the smoothie she had left there. "Even to save myself, or another person. That's the price I pay for my powers."

Trent gaped. That was... was... he didn't know what to think. Except... "Was it a good idea for Dr. O to even let you help us? I mean, you're a target for Mesogog and you can't defend yourself." There was no way that Dr. O could know about this. He wouldn't put Hayley in danger like that.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "I can teleport out of the way. Plus I had Tommy give me self-defense lessons. I can fight, I just can't kill."

"Ok," Trent said, sounding dubious. "Um... Dr. O does know about this right?"

Hayley grinned. "Yes. In fact, we met through a mutual friend--another person like me who happened to be a former Ranger."

"Oh." Trent paused for a minute. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what to say, I'm a just a little thrown."

Hayley smiled again, sympathetically. "It's okay. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone." She touched his shoulder. "If you want, I can introduce you to that friend of mine that was a Ranger before he became one of us. He knows what it's like to have powers you don't want."

"Is this one of the guys Dr. O's been trying to get me to talk to?" Trent asked, raising both eyebrows. "Because I'm getting sick of that."

Hayley shook her head. "No, Tommy's been focusing on people who were evil. My friend wasn't."

"Oh." Trent took a step back, deflating a bit.

"In most cases, the evil Rangers were about as in control as you were," Hayley said quietly.

Trent sighed. "Hayley, I know Dr. O means well, but I don't need pep talks. I need someone to extract this gem from me so I don't have to worry about turning evil for the rest of my life."

"I can't, Trent," Hayley told him gently. "There's no way."

"There's no way?" Trent's voice cracked.

"Not without killing you," Hayley said quietly. "We're focusing on trying to extract the evil from the gem, so it won't turn you evil anymore."

Trent turned away, frustrated by his inability to bring his life back under control. "I didn't want this!"

Hayley reached for a bottle of juice. "Neither did a lot of Rangers."

Trent buried his face in his hands, oblivious to Hayley's attempts to give him some juice.

Hayley leaned in closer, speaking quietly, as if she were telling him a secret. "Know what Tommy said to me shortly after we got him out of the amber?"

"Does it matter?" Trent asked impatiently.

"Yeah," Hayley said. "It does. He said from the way you went after that robot thingy that attacked you two that if we could just break the gem's influence you'd be a great addition to the team. You may not have asked for it, Trent, but you do have it in you."

Trent sank his head farther into his arms, his voice growing very muffled. "Great. And it had to be the evil gem that got ahold of me."

"You should've gotten detention your first day," Hayley said, amused. "Then you might've beat Conner to the red gem."

Trent shook his head. "I don't think I would have wanted Conner's power either. I know I'm no Red Ranger. Those are team leaders!"

"Except for Conner," Hayley said, pondering what she knew about Red Rangers. "Oh, and Wes from Time Force, but you wouldn't know it if you met him. And my friend Rocky was Red for awhile--but Tommy was leader even then."

Trent blinked. "That guy was a Red Ranger? And he wasn't team leader?"

Hayley shrugged. "Probably for the same reason Conner isn't--it's hard to be leader when Tommy's so good at it."

"I was talking about Wes," Trent said sheepishly. "Who's this Rocky guy?"

"Well, remember that friend I mentioned?" Hayley asked. "The former Ranger? That's Rocky. He's the one who introduced me to Tommy."

"Oh," Trent said quietly.

"Wes wasn't team leader due to some weird circumstances. Rocky wasn't team leader because... well, I think it because he was new and Tommy wasn't. Rocky never really resented it, though."

Trent nodded. "I can see how that might happen. Like Conner and Dr. O."

"Anyway, want to talk to Rocky?" Hayley asked, tidying up a little. She moved as if she was a bit nervous. Like she was introducing her boyfriend to her dad, almost.

"Yeah," Trent said, weighing meeting another Ranger against having someone who might understand things a little better. "I think I'd like that."

"Ok," Hayley said with a smile. She seemed to concentrate for a moment.

There was a flash of light and a third person in the room. A male person. Who was grinning.

Trent blinked, and blinked again. "Whoa."

Hayley smiled again. "Trent, meet Rocky DeSantos. Rocky, this is Trent."

Rocky extended a hand. "Nice to meet you, Trent."

"Hi," Trent took it tentatively, suddenly feeling shy in the unexpected presence. "I guess you've kind of heard of me?"

"Yeah, an all-Ranger alert will do that." Rocky smiled.

Trent blushed. "Anyway, Hayley said that... well...."

"I know what it's like to have a 'gift' that you don't want." Rocky patted his shoulder.

Trent nodded, suddenly unsure what to say.

Rocky gestured for Trent to sit on one of the couches by the windows. Trent sat, Rocky sitting opposite him.

They sat that way for a few moments.

Rocky finally started, speaking quietly, but steadily. "When I first broke out, I'd had to stop being a Ranger for... well, some stupid reasons. I continued to be friends with the other Rangers, but didn't want to tell the rest of the team what I was. We'd met the Tomorrow People all ready, and... well, we sort of thought the Tomorrow People were weak."

"You must've felt pretty helpless," Trent said, shadows crossing behind his eyes. Was Rocky the one who would finally understand what he was going through?

Rocky nodded. "To an extent. I suddenly could read minds, could read feelings to an extent--but I could never do what I loved doing. I could never fight again. I could never be a Ranger again--though that didn't sink in until I tried to be a Ranger again."

"What happened?" Trent leaned forward slightly, eyes wide with interest.

"My old spot opened up." Rocky swallowed, pausing for a moment before continuing. "My teammates didn't know I was a Tomorrow Person, so I was their first choice in taking over again. I didn't want to say no--I desperately wanted to be back with them again. So I joined again, and I fought--and I collapsed twice."

"That sucks," Trent said sympathetically.

"Yeah." Rocky sighed. "It did. I had to realize that as much as my team and I were still close, I couldn't be a part of the team anymore."

"Is it sick and wrong that I'd trade in an instant?" Trent slumped back against the couch.

"Given what you've been through, no." Rocky put a hand on his shoulder, as if to comfort him. "To this day I'm not totally comfortable being a Tomorrow Person. I'd trade it in an instant if I could morph again. But I've had to accept that I'm not going to, ever again."

Trent sighed, resisting an urge to bury his face in his hands. "Does that mean I have to accept that I'm always going to have to fight becoming evil?"

"We'll get the gem cleared," Hayley reassured him. "You'll be free as we can make you."

Trent looked at Rocky, as if for confirmation.

"Sorry, I'm not a precog," Rocky said gently, accepting a bottle of juice Hayley handed him from somewhere. "But there's a lot of really smart Rangers. I'd be shocked out of my mind if someone didn't come up with something." He turned to Hayley. "You and Billy have been working on it, right?"

"With Justin and Angela Fairweather from Lightspeed," Hayley said, smiling.

"See?" Rocky said, grinning widely. "If those four can't come up with something, there's nothing to be come up with."

"He said..." Trent shuddered, unable to continue.

"Who said?" Rocky asked. He looked at Hayley, as if they were communicating.

"Me... Mesogog," Trent whispered, as if afraid that Mesogog would hear.

"What did he say?" Rocky asked gently.

Trent gulped. "He... he said the gem would turn me evil, even if I tried to fight it."

"Not going to happen," Hayley asserted. "We'll find a way to get the gem de-evilized."

Trent stared. Gulped again. Then scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Want me to take you home?" Hayley offered, patting his shoulder affectionately.

Trent blanched at the thought of going back and dealing with his distant father at that moment. "No, I just want to stay here a while."

"Okay," Hayley said, patting Trent's shoulder again. She was probably trying to comfort him.

She and Rocky exchanged glances again.

Trent had the sneaking suspicion his ears should be burning.

"I can take you out to dinner," Rocky said finally. "Or bring you home for dinner. Iz'll be happy to have a guest over. You can have a home-cooked meal and meet my daughter Teresa."

"Yeah, Trent looks so in the mood to meet a six month old," Hayley teased.

Rocky shrugged. "I live in Stone Canyon. It's not right next door, and it'll be a nice change of pace."

Trent shrugged. Then stared at the floor, scuffing his shoes against it. He *liked* Rocky, but he didn't want to impose on him and his family.

"I'm not as good a cook as Iz," Hayley wheedled, "but would you rather have dinner at my place?"

Trent turned to Rocky, having made up his mind. "No offense, but I think I'd feel more at home with Hayley."

Rocky smiled. "None taken." He winked at Hayley, and she grinned. "I should be getting back, though. Theresa will be waking up soon."

"I'll talk to you later," Hayley told him. "Thanks for coming by."

Rocky flashed out in the way he had come. Hayley put an arm around Trent's shoulders. "Come on."

"Okay," Trent said, and followed her out the door.

She headed out and started unlocking the doors to a small blue Echo. Trent blinked and stared. "You have a car?"

"Appearances," Hayley said, sliding into the front seat and unlocking the door on Trent's side. "I can teleport, I do teleport if I'm running late, but I don't want to advertise what I can do. I don't want the government to get interested in me."

"Good point," Trent said. Then something else occurred to him as he got in. "You never take it to Dr. O's though."

"That's because Tommy knows what I am," Hayley said, mind obviously intent on something else. "So I don't bother."

"Oh." Trent paused for a moment. Then something occurred to him. "And Conner, Ethan, and Kira never noticed?"

"I'm very careful." Hayley winked at him.

"Ah." Trent nodded. Hayley had her secrets, he guessed. "I take it I shouldn't mention this to them?"

"Yeah, make it our little secret." Hayley paused as they got into the car. "Besides, I'm never comfortable explaining what I am."

"Then why did you explain it to me?" Trent put on his seat belt.

"Because you needed to hear it," Hayley explained, clicking her own belt into place. "And I needed you to know that you had somebody to turn to."

"Thanks, Hayley," Trent said gratefully. Why was it that Hayley and Dr. O seemed a thousand times more concerned for him than his own father?

"Is your father expecting you for dinner?" Hayley asked as she turned onto the freeway.

Trent shook his head. "He wasn't even there last night, the butler brought it up to my room."

"Has he said anything else about your being gone?" Hayley asked, curious.

"No," Trent said. He shrugged. "It's just... weird. I mean, I was expected to be grounded or yelled at or dragged to a therapist. Instead I get two sentences' reprimand and then totally ignored."

"That's weird," Hayley observed as she navigated the rather annoying round about between the Cyberspace and her house. "Is he all right?"

Trent shook his head. "I don't know." He took a deep breath. "A few hours before my gem attached itself to me, I saw him going through an invisiportal."

Hayley pulled over into a convenient parking space and turned to Trent. "What?!"

"There's an invisiportal in his office, sometimes," Trent explained. "I went through it twice. He went through it about an hour before I landed up in Mesogog's lab."

Hayley paled. "Trent, why didn't you say something to someone sooner?"

Trent shrugged. "Well, first I thought I was imagining things. And then I kinda got possessed."

"You've been home for a few days now," Hayley pointed out, eyes narrowing in concern.

"Geez, give me a chance to get acclimated first," Trent said petulantly, reeling back a little.

Hayley took a deep breath and reminded herself yelling at Trent wouldn't help. "Trent. You've got to tell us these things."

Trent turned to face the window, clearly discomfited. "I can only remember little bits and pieces of it. It's like the rest of my memories for about a week--in little bits and fragments, with time missing between them."

"Okay," Hayley said, clearly trying to gain her composure as she put the car in gear. "But did you go through that invisiportal to get to Mesogog's lab?"

Trent nodded. "That much I remember clearly. Of course, the last time I went through it, I ended up right outside the Cafe, right after dad got blocked from buying it. I didn't have much time to think about it, because Ethan dragged me in to celebrate...."

"The last time?" Hayley pulled back into the space and put the car in park again. "Wait, how many times have you seen an invisiportal in your Dad's office?"

"Um... three times," Trent said sheepishly. "The two times I went through, and then the one time Dad went through."

"That doesn't sound like a good sign, Trent." Hayley frowned at him, her brow creased in worry. "Has your Dad been acting... off... lately?"

Trent nodded, knowing that he had to tell somebody something about his father. "Well, as I said, he yelled at me for about a minute and didn't ground me or anything."

"Anything else?" Hayley asked.

"He... seemed kinda sick once." Trent stared at his hands as he spoke. "He was going on about changes and what was best for me and he was sweating... I wasn't sure what was going on."

"How long ago was this?" Hayley asked.

"Um..." Trent thought. Hard. "A couple of weeks?" Maybe more. His Gem sometimes made it hard to remember, but he wasn't going to tell Hayley that.

"And you never told anybody?" Hayley asked, incredulously.

Trent shrugged. "I figured he was coming down with something."

Hayley sighed as she made a left turn towards the freeway. "Do me a favor? Call Tommy and tell him we're coming over. I think he needs to know about this."

"Dr. O? Okay...." He reached for the cellphone and pulled up the address book entry for Dr. O.

Hayley chuckled. "The phone works too."

Trent flushed. He'd forgotten. "I guess I should use the communicator and not your anytime minutes, huh?"

"That's why we gave you that," Hayley said. "Call."

Trent picked up his communicator. "Trent to Dr. O."

"Go. Is everything OK?" Even through the communications system, Dr. O sounded more worried than Trent's dad.

"This is Trent. And 'OK' kinda depends on who you talk to." Trent squirmed in the seat, uncomfortable discussing this with his teacher. "Hayley and I will explain when we get there, OK?"

"Okay," Dr. O said, sounding more than a little confused and concerned.

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Hayley said, leaning slightly so Dr. O could hear her. And, true to her word, they were soon at Dr. O's place.

"Right," Dr. O said. "Out."

Trent sighed as he got out of the car. He had a feeling this conversation was going to make the All Ranger Alert look like his dad's reaction to his homecoming.


	3. Chapter 3

"Come on," Hayley said, practically dragging him to the front door.

In fact, actually dragging him to the front door, because Trent's feet didn't want to work and kept dragging. Hayley rang the doorbell.

Dr. O opened the door. "What's going on?" he asked, ushering them inside.

"Trent told me some things on the way home that I think you should hear," Hayley said without preamble as she headed for the living room.

Trent shuffled his feet as he headed for an armchair. He looked as if he'd been called into to the principal's office and not his mentor's living room.

"Trent, you can tell me anything," Dr. O said gently, kneeling in front of him. "I'm not going to get upset with you."

"Well, um...." Trent stared at his hands, twiddling his thumbs.

"Invisiportals," Hayley prompted sternly.

Trent sighed. "I sortasawsomeinmyDad'soffice," he mumbled.

Dr. O took a minute or so to parse that. "Invisiportals in your dad's office?"

Trent opened his mouth, then closed it again. He tried one more time, then sighed, and settled for nodding yes.

"Three times," Hayley supplied when Trent couldn't. "Twice with him going through them."

"Your Dad?" Dr. O asked, looking at Trent.

"Me," Trent said quietly, forcing the confession out. "The second time was how I ended up with the gem."

Dr. O sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "And Anton?"

Trent kept focusing on his hands, playing with his fingers nervously. He was trying to force out the words he didn't want to say. He wasn't sure how Dr. O was going to react. "Last time I saw Dad before I... left, he went through an invisiportal. That was an hour before I walked through it and got kidnapped by my gem."

Dr. O took Trent's hands, trying to quiet them. "That sounds... I mean... You have to admit, Trent, it seems a little like your Dad's involved with Mesogog somehow."

Trent jerked his hands away from his teammate--upset at the implication. "Well, the first time, it dropped me right outside Hayley's place." He really didn't want to know what Dr. O's reaction to this would be--Hayley was freaked out enough for the two of them.

"Which is the only reason I'm just going to point out to you that going through those wasn't bright instead of smacking you upside the head," Dr. O said firmly.

"I didn't exactly know those were Mesogog's favorite mode of transport!" Trent said defensively.

Hayley put a hand on Trent's shoulder, as if to reassure him. "Anyway, Tommy's right. That place is not safe for you, especially since Mesogog knows your identity."

"What?" Trent pulled away, stood up, and inched towards the door, deciding finally that maybe this wasn't the best place to be. "That's my *home*."

"Yeah, so?" Dr. O asked. He pointed upstairs. "It's not safe; my guest room is. You're staying here tonight."

"No," Trent pleaded, hoping to persuade his teammate of the ludicrousness of the idea. "Dr. O, please, I don't think that's a good idea. What if the school found out? You could lose your job."

"It's better than having Mesogog catch you," Dr. O said. "If your father's involved with Mesogog, he could decide that sending you over to Mesogog is the right thing to do at any time."

"He wouldn't!" Trent responded hastily. "He... he..." Trent paused, and stared at the floor. "Didn't even call the police when I was gone for a week."

"That's right." Dr. O leaned in a little, squeezing Trent's shoulder. "Trent, I think he's so involved with Mesogog that he's forgotten about you. I just don't want you there when Mesogog figures out he can attack you at home."

Trent sighed. "Can't I... I mean..." He glanced at Hayley.

"I can only offer you a couch instead of a guest room," Hayley said gently. Her tone indicated that while she wouldn't object, she felt it was a bad idea.

Trent leaned heavily against the wall, deflating. "I guess I'm staying here tonight."

"I don't bite, I promise," Dr. O said gently.

"I just don't want either of you hauled in for kidnapping," Trent said. He looked meaningfully at Dr. O. "Or you getting fired for getting too close to a student."

Dr. O shrugged. "You're more important to me than my job."

Trent gaped. "You barely know me."

"You're my teammate," Dr. O said reassuringly. "That comes ahead of everything else."

"And I'm more than happy to take in someone who's practically abandoned by his father," Hayley said, practically hugging him.

Trent looked from one to the other doubtfully. "And oddly, I was wondering how you two could be more worried than him on the way over here." He sighed. "I'm so going to get grilled by Conner, Ethan, and Kira over this."

Dr. O shrugged. "Get used to it." He headed towards the stairs to the upstairs level. "Why don't I get you set up? Hayley there's...."

"Apple juice and celery in the fridge, I know. He hasn't had dinner yet."

"Apple juice and celery?" Trent asked, groaning. "Oh, god, Conner and Kira weren't kidding, were they? Nary a potato chip in sight?"

Hayley shrugged, as if it weren't a big deal. "Tommy told me that's what's best for Rangers," she said. "And that's how I've been feeding the other three lately."

Trent chuckled, a smile playing on his lips. He had a plan forming. "Can I have Rocky's phone number? I want a second opinion."

* * *

Despite his worry about his sudden change of residence, Trent managed to seem unconcerned by the time the others showed up for practice. As long as he didn't mention where he was living, he could be... well, as normal as somebody could be whose foster father was in cahoots with the enemy.

"How are you feeling, Trent?" Kira asked as she plopped down beside him.

"Better," he said, glad for the baseball cap. It made him feel semi-normal. And at school, he didn't have to wear his headband at all.

"That's good," Kira said cheerily.

"You know Dr. O's going to rag on you about the headband, man," Ethan said.

Trent shrugged. "Yeah." If Trent was lucky, that would be all Dr. O would rag on him about now.

"I'm just glad it's got you on our side." Conner clapped him on the shoulder.

Trent nodded. "I kind of like being on the side of good myself," he said, thinking of how careful Dr. O was about his current state. There was no way Dr. O would let him lapse to the side of evil.

"How about we go and do something before Dr. O rags on the rest of us?" Conner suggested.

"So Red Ranger," Kira teased, nudging her teammate.

Conner shrugged. "Hey, I know what I'm not."

Ethan laughed. "That's the first step to wisdom, isn't it?"

"And the first step towards acknowledging that I'm not team leader," Conner said. "Well, except for the first week or two when Dr. O didn't have his Dino Gem yet."

Kira rolled her eyes in amusement. "Dr. O was in charge, really, even then."

Trent shifted uncomfortably. "So, practice?"

"Get it out of the way, man," Ethan said. He looked around, as if expecting Dr. O to decloak at any moment. "Just don't tell Dr. O that."

"Your secret's safe with me," Trent said, smiling weakly.

* * *

Three weeks passed with Trent staying at Dr. O's and nothing out of the ordinary happening. Well, nothing out of the ordinary for a Power Ranger, at least.

"Do you know that your father's missing?" Hayley asked conversationally as they were cleaning up the Cyberspace after closing one night.

Trent shook his head. "Dr. O hasn't even let me go home to get anything." Trent shifted a stool from the floor to the counter. "So how could I?"

Hayley shrugged. "That's a good point. But he hasn't been seen for a couple weeks. Possibly not since a night or two after you moved into Tommy's guest room."

Trent bit his lip. Maybe he'd been a stabilizing presence in his Dad's life. Without him, Mesogog had been able to take over. "Have you told Dr. O this?"

"What are you thinking, Trent?" Hayley asked curiously.

"A quick trip home for some stuff." Trent shifted uncomfortably--he could just picture Dr. O's reaction to this suggestion. "My photo album and a couple books my real parents gave me, mostly."

Hayley sighed. "Let me come with you. I can get us in and out without a car."

"I was going to check with Dr. O first, but if you think it's OK..." Trent trailed off, uncertain. He hadn't seen Hayley use her gifts since... well, when she'd told him about them. But if she wanted to, and Dr. O didn't find out.... Well, he'd better not find out, since he'd be in twice as much trouble for putting Hayley in danger too.

"I know Tommy doesn't want you getting too near to your father," Hayley said in quiet resignation, "but this might be the only chance you have. And I have an advantage in the nearly undetectable entrance/quick exit department."

Trent thought for a second, weighing the possibility of a lecture and possible grounding against him getting his photo album and the copies of The Wizard of Oz and one of the Hardy Boys books with his parents' inscriptions. He wanted those, badly. Dad would probably never know, and Dr. O... well, the results were worth the possible consequences. He nodded. "I want to go."

Hayley reached out, and Trent took her hand.

"Will it hurt?" Trent asked suddenly.

"You tell me," Hayley grinned. There was a flash of light, and they were standing in his bedroom.

Trent stumbled a little, quickly reorienting himself. His bedroom was hardly opulent--actually, rather spare, decorated in his foster father's taste in art. His Dad hadn't even let him hang his own framed artwork or photographs of his parents or friends. Still, at least his foster father believed in bookshelves, and not egg crates. He grabbed the photo album and the books. "I guess... this is all I need."

Hayley looked around the spartan bedroom, grimacing in distaste. "Anything else you want? Your drawing supplies? Drawings? Hard to find comics?"

"You're right," Trent said, gathering a few more things from a cabinet. "Now, this is it. We'd better get out before somebody finds us... or Dr. O notices what we just did."

"I'll square things with Tommy," Hayley said, wrapping an arm around Trent's shoulders, as his hands were full.

"I'd rather be grounded with what I have of my folks than not grounded without them," Trent muttered, staring at the precious objects. Or at least the precious-to-him objects.

There was a flash of light, and they were back at the Cyberspace, Trent blinking a little.

Trent put his stuff down on the counter. "Sometimes, that comes in handy."

"Yeah, it really does," Hayley said with a grin. "Do you need a ride home or is Tommy picking you up?"

"Dr. O's picking me up." Trent checked his watch. "In fact he's due in... right about.... now."

The back door to the CyberCafe opened and shut.

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" Dr. O asked, smiling as if he hadn't just spent a day teaching and in parent-teacher conferences. Sometimes Trent wondered if being a Ranger made you keep the energy you had when you were a Ranger. Or maybe it was because he was a Ranger.

"Pretty good," Trent said, picking up his stuff again, hoping that it was inconspicuous enough to avoid punishment. "Thanks, Hayley."

Hayley grinned. "You're welcome."

Dr. O looked at the pile of stuff in Trent's arms, eyebrow raised. "Where did that come from?"

"Long story," Trent said, hoping to avoid the subject. "I'm hungry."

"Ok," Dr. O said dubiously, "you can tell me on the way home. Want some help with that stuff?"

"Sure," Trent said. He looked at Hayley, and she winked.

Dr. O took half the stuff out of Trent's arms and helped him carry it out.

They loaded it into the car. Dr. O flipped open the photo album. He stared at for a minute, and then his eyes narrowed in realization. He looked up at Trent. "Which part of 'It's not safe for you to go home' did you not understand?"

Trent shrugged sheepishly. "The part where Dad's been missing for two weeks?"

Dr. O glared at him and gestured for him to get in the jeep. Trent climbed in and buckled his seat belt.

Dr. O got in, frowning. "How'd you get there when you were working from the time school was over until about ten minutes ago?"

"Hayley teleported me there," Trent responded, hoping he didn't sound half as defiant as he felt.

"Hayley knows she can't defend herself against Mesogog," Dr. O muttered, half to himself. "I can't believe you dragged her into it."

"It's not like she can't get out of trouble in a fraction of a second," Trent said, defending Hayley. "She said Dad was missing. It was a good bet the house would be empty. And we weren't even there five minutes. Look, Dr. O, she offered, and it certainly didn't seem like a big risk when she could teleport us out of there at a moment's notice. "

Dr. O shook his head. "I've got to talk to her about that. Mesogog's goons could have come through that portal any moment."

Trent shrugged again. "I needed the stuff. It's all I have of my parents. And we got out there safely."

Dr. O sighed, looking at the steering wheel. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't ground you."

Trent shrugged again. "I'd rather be stuck at your place for the next three weeks with this stuff, then hanging out with the team without it."

Dr. O shook his head, still not facing Trent. "Good. because you're grounded."

Trent nodded.

"You realize you'll be up running with me at 6 AM every morning," Dr. O said, sounding a little perturbed. Clearly, he expected Trent to be more upset about it.

Trent just nodded again. He knew that this was the likely consequence of going to retrieve his stuff, whether Hayley was going to "square" things with Dr. O or not. There was no point in arguing about it or complaining. He did the crime, he would do the time. No matter how annoyingly early he had to get up.

Dr. O turned, arms crossed. "Trent, you could have died over that stuff. I understand that photo album is one of the last things you have of your parents, but was it really worth the risk? Not just to you, but to Hayley?"

"She's the one who offered," Trent said, still defending Hayley's choice. "And I knew that she could get us out of there. It was a risk, Dr. O, but one I *had* to take. And Hayley knew that."

"It's just... the thought of you two getting hurt..." Dr O looked pained, as if something had happened that he didn't want happening again.

"Dr. O, we're both *fine*." Trent shook his head in exasperation at his teammate's overprotectiveness. "And now I don't feel tempted to go back."

"Thank god," Dr. O said. He took a deep breath, then finally buckled his own seat belt and started the car.

* * *

"Dr. O grounded you?" Ethan asked, incredulously at school the next morning.

Trent shrugged. It wasn't half as scary as Ethan made it out to be. "I guess he felt he needed to... I don't mind, except for the 6 am jogs before school."

"It's just... he grounded you?" Conner asked, sounding indignant. "I mean, he's not your dad. Can he do that?"

"I'm staying at his place, aren't I?" Trent pointed out in a whisper.

Conner shook his head, amazed at their teacher and mentor. "I still don't believe he'd ground anybody."

Trent shrugged again. "I don't mind. It keeps him from being worried."

"You know, with all this parenting he's doing, you'd think you could stop calling him Dr. O," Kira mused, shuffling her books in the order of her classes.

Trent shrugged, not interested in the matter. "He's still my science teacher. And not my legal guardian."

"Gotta be weird, though," Ethan said. "I mean, he sees you at 6 AM with bed hair."

"I'm very careful about combing it," Trent said. "He worries enough. Besides, I'm wearing the headband and cap at all times. I even wear the headband when I go to bed."

Ethan shook his head, grimacing. "The hair wasn't the point, dude. I mean... he rags on you like a parent, but you don't get the upsides."

"That's what Hayley's for," Trent said quietly, staring at his notebook. She really was. Dr. O was... stiff sometimes.

Ethan put a hand on Trent's shoulder. "At least you've got her. I've heard she helped get the stuff out."

Trent nodded. "Yeah, she did. Annoyed Dr. O in the process, but she did."

"Don't worry, it's good for him," Conner said. The warning bell rang.

"Come on, if we're late for science, I'll probably get an extended sentence," Trent said, taking off quickly.

* * *

Trent shook his head at his reflection in the mirror as he donned the baseball cap. Trent was amazed his father hadn't called looking for him, but at least Dad hadn't pressed any kidnapping charges against Dr. O. Of course, his father was missing. Trent couldn't help but be worried.

"You Ok, Trent?" Dr. O asked, standing in the open doorway to the bathroom.

"Just thinking," Trent said, trying to get his mind off his foster father.

"Penny for your thoughts," Dr. O said with a grin.

Trent glared at his use of the trite phrase.

Dr. O held his arms up defensively. "Okay, I'll behave. But what's wrong, Trent?"

"I'm surprised nobody's noticed I'm living here," Trent confessed, pushing past Dr. O towards the downstairs. It was nearly time for their run.

He went outside, pausing on the lawn and moving carefully into a runner's stretch.

Dr. O had followed him, and looked at him sympathetically as he started to stretch as well. "Nobody? Or your dad?"

"Well, nobody, and Dad," Trent said miserably as he stood, shivering a bit in the crisp morning air.

"I don't think he's exactly himself." Dr. O reached out, squeezing Trent's shoulder.

Trent nodded. "I don't know what's going on with him."

"I wish we did," Dr. O added.

"Me too." Trent stretched his other leg. The last thing he needed was an injury. "I mean, it's like my life is in this weird holding pattern where something should happen... and it just doesn't."

Dr. O nodded sympathetically. "I know how that feels. At least this happened when you were a Ranger. More or less."

Trent stared, not able to comprehend. "That's a good thing, how?"

"Support system," Dr. O said simply. "A Ranger wouldn't let something like this happen to a teammate."

Trent shifted uncomfortably at Dr. O's unconscious emphasis on the word 'teammate'. "Oh."

"What's wrong?" Dr. O asked, looking at him as if trying to see right through him.

Trent stared the ground, wishing he could say what was on his mind without upsetting Dr. O. Maybe there was a reason that Conner, Kira, and Ethan had had so many problems with him when he started on the team. "Nothing."

"Trent, I'm your teammate. You can talk to me about whatever it is." Dr. O squeezed his shoulder, not letting go this time.

Trent sighed, his stomach clenching. "Yeah, you're my *teammate*. Otherwise..." He stopped, shaking his head again. "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

"What is it, Trent?" Dr. O asked, his eyes narrowing in concern.

"I said never mind," Trent said vehemently. "Let's just get the run over with OK?"

Dr. O shook his head but said nothing. Trent had the feeling he was just waiting to pry it out of him later.

* * *

"Thanks for meeting me for lunch, Rocky," Trent said to the older man. Of all the former Rangers he'd met (and between the Silver Guardians, Taylor, most of Dr. O's original team, and every single formerly evil Ranger known to Dr. O, that was getting to be a rather long list), he felt the most comfortable with Rocky. He guessed maybe it was because Rocky wasn't gung-ho about his powers, the same way Trent felt.

"Anytime, Kiddo," Rocky said, closing his menu and resting it on the table. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"

"Just over something Dr. O said," Trent told him, glad to unburden himself. "About how I was lucky that I was a Ranger when my dad kinda disappeared, so I had a support system. And I started thinking how it would be like if I hadn't ever been bonded with the gem, where I'd be right now."

"Worrying about what might have been will get you nowhere, Trent," Rocky said gently.

"I know, but I was bothered by his attitude." Trent stirred his lemonade with his straw, watching the resultant swirls rather than looking at Rocky. "Like if I hadn't been a Ranger, I wouldn't have mattered to him. It's kind of like you're either a Ranger--which means you can't go and have your own life away from your team--or you're not a Ranger--which means you don't matter."

Rocky put down his glass, studying Trent carefully. He wasn't sure what to say--but he knew he needed to figure it out fast. Trent wouldn't admit it, but fear and hurt were sneaking through Rocky's shields. This wasn't good. He picked his words carefully. "I've known Tommy Oliver for a long time, Trent. He sometimes isn't the most eloquent guy I've ever known... but neither am I. People matter to us, it's just that, as active Rangers. we don't get a whole lot of time to be close to people that aren't on our team--or Tommy doesn't, I didn't. It's just that we feel that nobody understands, except those we've fought with. I think he cares, it's just hard to see."

Trent stared at the bracelet on his wrist. "I guess. It's just... I *hate* this thing. But without it, I wouldn't have Dr. O or Hayley. That scares me."

Rocky nodded, shifting in the booth so he could squeeze Trent's shoulder. "My powers have brought me a whole new circle of friends, but I still don't want them. The powers, at least. By the way, you're underestimating Hayley."

Trent sighed at the presumption. "I'm not sure what to believe anymore--who to trust. I trusted Dad... but I can't and..." Trent buried his head in his hands.

Rocky couldn't help but feel the barrage of hurt and pain in the younger man, and wished he could share his empathic ability with his former teammate. If Tommy could feel what Rocky was feeling right now, Tommy would make sure that Trent quit feeling that way. "I know. It was tough for Tommy, too. The only thing you can trust is yourself and your own faith."

"Faith in what?" Trent asked, looking up suspiciously. Was Rocky about to start proselytizing?

"In whatever you believe in," Rocky said. "All of us have different beliefs. I didn't say that to convert you, Trent. Just that somewhere, there's something to believe in."

"I don't believe in anything," Trent replied sadly.

Rocky nodded sagely. "I think you will. And I'm not talking religious faith, Trent. You can believe in something that's not divine."

Trent adapted the face of a cynical teenager. "Like what? My teammates who like me for the bracelet on my wrist?"

"If you saw the way Kira looks at you, you'd know she likes you for more than that," Rocky said, knowing how their emotions had pinged on his shields. Man, he couldn't believe how oblivious teenagers were sometimes, even about their own emotions.

Trent looked at him. Then nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Ethan too."

"See, it's not so bad." Rocky patted Trent's shoulder. "And I'm sure things will settle down."

"I guess," Trent said, looking down.

"Something else bugging you?" Rocky asked, gently. "Not that the first thing isn't enough."

"Just that Dad has disappeared," Trent said, stirring his drink with his straw. "On top of everything else. And Dr. O is freaking because of that. I got grounded when I got my stuff."

"Yeah, I heard," Rocky said. Hayley had told him about it, and in a way that wasn't sympathetic to Tommy. And Tommy had mentioned it too. "Look, Trent, it's not that Tommy didn't want you to have it, it's just he didn't want you or Hayley getting hurt over it."

"I know, it's just..." Trent paused. "I was going to talk to him about it, and Hayley talked me into teleporting over there. It's kind of like... like I have one parent between the two of them--Hayley's the one who comforts me, who understands and is behind me no matter what. And Dr. O sets the limits, makes the rules. It's hard to take the second part of that without the first."

"I can talk to Tommy about that, if you want," Rocky said, knowing that the young man was still uncomfortable with talking to Tommy.

"He's still my science teacher, it's not like he can help it," Trent said, somehow wanting to defend his teammate and science teacher. Maybe even the brief time he'd been a Ranger was too long. He was beginning to become a Ranger in thought.

"Yes, but it's hard to live somewhere if you're uncomfortable," Rocky pointed out. "Look, I've worked with him for years. Let me talk to him about it."

Trent shook his head, looking a little shell shocked, and wondering what Rocky thought he was up to. "I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Trent, if you're uncomfortable with how Tommy's doing things, I think someone should let him know," Rocky said patiently. "He's scared, too."

"Dr. O? Scared?" Trent asked, as though he didn't believe such a thing were possible. Then something clicked and a chill went down his spine. "Great, he thinks I'm going to go psycho again."

"No," Rocky said firmly, "He's scared of what's going on with your dad, of someone figuring out what's going on and trying to take you away from him. Mostly. Some of it's your powers, but mostly it's your dad."

"I told him me staying with him is a bad idea," Trent said miserably. "I'd hate to hurt Dr. O's career, or get him in trouble. I should just go home and take my chances."

"No," Rocky said simply. "You shouldn't."

"Why?" Trent demanded. "Dad isn't there! And I can defend myself."

"When you're sound asleep?" Rocky asked reasonably. "Trent, he could just pull that headband off your head and then activate the gem and he wouldn't *need* to fight you. Not to mention what would you do about the Tyrannodrones?"

Trent sighed. "I just... I want to go home. I want everything to be normal again. I want to pretend that I don't have this evil gem bonded with me so I can go back to drawing."

"I'm sorry, Trent, it just doesn't work that way--and you'd hurt yourself more in the long run if you tried it." Rocky paused for a moment, as if just processing what Trent had said. "Why can't you draw at Tommy's?"

Trent shrugged, not having thought about it. "No inspiration."

"Which probably brings us back to the whole large list of things bothering you," Rocky said.

"I need some space, and I *tried* leaving," Trent pointed out.

"Is Tommy breathing down your neck all the time or something?" Rocky asked. He tried to hide the worry in his eyes. He was going to have to talk to Tommy--whether Trent wanted him to or not. ASs the thought crossed Rocky's mind, he was glad that Trent was not empathic.

"Not quite," Trent explained. "But he keeps an eye on me. I haven't felt like drawing in weeks."

"Have you tried telling him it bothers you?" Rocky asked, hoping that Trent had realized to ask. Sometimes Tommy could be a little dense when it came to his loved ones.

"I am, he's not listening."

"Oh," Rocky said, thinking hard. He debated the lesser of two evils: not asking Trent's permission again, or asking for it again, being told no, and talking to Tommy anyway.

Trent shook his head. "I don't think he'll listen until someone figures out how to de-evil my gem."

Rocky stared. Unsure what to say again. He knew Tommy could be damn stubborn--and he certainly wouldn't put it past the Black Ranger to hover over Trent until the gem could be purged of evil. But him doing that wouldn't make Trent feel any better.

Trent sighed, hoping that Dr. O would eventually understand. "I try to leave my bracelet at home, but he always catches that."

"I've got to support him on the not leaving your morpher behind thing, Trent, I'm sorry," Rocky said, glancing at the waiter heading in their direction. "The bad guys know you're a Ranger now--if you leave that behind, you're defenseless."

Trent sighed. And nodded. Rocky had a point. "I just wish that he would listen."

"I know," Rocky said as the waiter arrived with their food.

* * *

A couple hours later, while Trent was at work, Rocky knocked on the door to 1992 Valencia Drive. Tommy answered.

"Hey, Rocky," Tommy said, stepping back to admit his friend. "What's going on?"

"Trent," Rocky said shortly, hoping his friend and former teammate would catch the hint.

"I know you guys had lunch..." Tommy said. Then he saw the look on Rocky's face. "Come into the kitchen. You want something to drink?"

"Nah," Rocky said, not feeling hungry or thirsty at all. He followed Tommy into the kitchen. "But you do need to ease up on him, man."

"Ease up?" Tommy asked, looking surprised and leading him into the kitchen and sitting down at the table. "Look, Rocky, if this is about grounding him..."

"It's that, plus he's worried about how you worry about his gem," Rocky told him. "He thinks you're all rules and no love."

Tommy stared.

"Look, he's freaked out by everything that's happened--I could feel his fear and worry," Rocky said. "They were so strong that they got past my shields, and you know how good my shields are. He needs you to be there for him, and he doesn't think you're doing that. I know you want to give him the support he needs for what happened to him, but all you're doing is scaring him."

"I'm still his teacher," Tommy said quietly to the table.

"I think it's past time you tried to fix that." Rocky put a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Look, Tommy, he's sixteen, and he's scared. You're keeping him safe and well fed, but emotionally... he told me that the team wouldn't care about him if it weren't for his morpher. He's *hurting*. I know Hayley's doing her best, but he lives here with you. He doesn't think this is home, and he's been living here for weeks. I know part of this is your being his teacher--and so does he. But he doesn't need a teacher, he needs a *parent*. Not, as he told me, two half parents. I thought Wes had some ideas on who to talk to about an adoption."

"He does," Tommy said, looking up at Rocky and taking a step away. "It's just taking some time, and I don't want to get Trent's hopes up."

Rocky rolled his eyes in frustration, sitting at the table. "You're going to have to do a whole lot better than that, Tommy. Unless you want to find him staying at his father's place again... and you know that Mesogog will try to grab him if he does that."

Tommy sat too, scrubbing a hand over his face in worry. "How do I be his dad here and his teacher at school? I can't do it, Rocky."

"Are you the only science teacher in the school?" Rocky asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion.

"No, but how on Earth do I explain why he needs to switch?" Tommy asked, looking at the sink as if it held the answer.

"What, a pending adoption isn't enough reason?" Rocky replied. "It's really not fair to his classmates either."

Tommy shook his head, recognition dawning. "You're right. I'll get the adoption through, and switch him to a different teacher."

"You need to tell him, too," Rocky pointed out.

"Dr. O, I'm home," Trent said, coming into the kitchen. He saw Rocky and dropped his backpack in shock.

"Hi, Trent," Rocky said, adopting a look of innocence. "How are you doing?" He winced as Trent's feelings of betrayal washed over him.

"I'll live," Trent said, though he didn't sound too sure about that. "What are you doing here?"

"He's a teammate, he just came for a chat," Tommy said, standing up and fidgeting nervously. Like his mom had just caught him at the cookie jar.

Trent frowned, clearly unconvinced.

Rocky decided it was better not to put Tommy in the middle of this. It had been his choice. "I'm sorry, Trent. I got caught up in your frustration. He needed to know, and if you wouldn't tell him, I had to."

Trent sighed. "Can't anyone just leave me alone?" He left the room, heading up the stairs, double speed.

Rocky shook his head. "So much for good intentions."

Tommy picked up Trent's backpack. "I'll talk to him. It's not your fault, Rocko."

"Tommy..." Rocky said, a warning note in his voice.

"*Talk*," Tommy said firmly. "Like a parent. I promise. Not lecture."

Rocky nodded. "You'd better do that. Trent needs your support right now, Tommy. Not just mine and Hayley's." He disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Tommy to deal with Trent.

Tommy took a deep breath and headed upwards, walking down the upstairs hall until he was at his guest bedroom. He raised his hand to knock, paused, and stood for a moment. Was Trent really there?

He could hear soft strains of something through the door. Tommy finally got up the courage to knock. "Trent?"

"I said leave me alone," Trent said, sounding petulant.

Tommy sighed. Parenting Trent was going to be tough. "It's not gonna happen, Trent. You decent?"

"Yeah," Trent said, grudgingly, and the lock snicked. The door opened, and Tommy recognized the soft music as that of Kira's demo CD.

Tommy smiled, knowing how Trent felt about Kira. "She's got quite the voice, doesn't she?"

Trent nodded, thumping down onto the bed.

Tommy sat next to him. "I guess we need to talk."

"'Bout what?" Trent asked.

"You don't want to make this easy for me, do you?" Tommy asked, putting a hand on Trent's shoulder.

"Look, I'm sorry if I was disrespectful to Rocky..." Trent started.

"Trent, I'm not here to berate you!" Tommy said, cutting him off. "It's just clear from what Rocky said that we need to talk is all."

"About what?" Trent asked sullenly.

"Trent, meet me halfway, OK?"

Trent took a deep breath, clearly trying to gather his thoughts. "I just have a lot of stuff that's going on in my life."

"I know. I just never meant for this situation to be one of those things." Tommy paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain.

Trent looked at him questioningly, a glimmer of hope behind his eyes.

"You're in a unique situation, Trent," Tommy began. "No other Ranger has been in a situation where going home isn't safe."

Trent sighed, scooting away from Tommy a little. "That makes me feel so much better."

"And no one's been teammates with one of their teachers before this team," Tommy said. "It's always been a little weird, but with this..."

"Look, I understand why it has to be this way..." Trent started to say.

Tommy took a deep breath, hoping that Trent would understand. "I don't want you to feel trapped, Trent. It's just... I'm caught in a weird situation. Anton's not around, and I never thought I'd be parenting one of my teammates."

"I get it, OK?" Trent said. He took a deep breath, and Tommy had the distinct feeling that Trent was trying to keep his temper. "It doesn't make it hurt any less."

"Make what hurt?" Tommy asked, more to hear Trent voice it than anything else.

"Not..." Trent sighed, shaking his head and looking away, the volume of his voice dropping in volume. "Didn't Rocky tell you?"

"Trent, I think it'd help a lot if you tell me." Tommy squeezed Trent's far shoulder, resting his arm on Trent's back. "I won't get mad. I promise."

Trent sighed. "It's hard... the way Ethan put it was with you I was only getting the downsides of parents--rules, being grounded. If I want comfort or support I have to go to Hayley. And it's weird having that one role split up like that."

Tommy rubbed his face. "I didn't meant to come off like that." He really didn't.

Trent sat up. "You can't help it. You're still my teacher."

"Not for much longer." Tommy draped an arm around Trent's shoulders. "Anton hasn't been around for weeks. It's time I legally took charge. Which means you'll be in another science class."

"You mean..." Trent stared, clearly not sure how to react to Tommy's words--or possibly his actions. "I thought... you talked to that lawyer guy the military guy gave you the number for?"

"Yeah, Wes gave me the number, and I'm working on being your legal guardian," Tommy confessed, feeling guilty for not mentioning it before.

Trent sat wordlessly, taking it in.

Tommy resisted the urge to pull Trent against him, but didn't move his arm either. "Rocky reminded me that we can't keep this relationship informal forever--especially if Anton comes back and tries to take you to Mesogog. And, I think, once I'm not your science teacher, things will be easier."

Trent nodded, seeing the reasoning behind the action. "Yeah, it will. How much longer do you think it's going to take? To get my class changed, I mean?"

"I still need to talk to vice-principal Burgess about it," Tommy said, nodding, "But hopefully not long. She's pretty good about things like that."

Trent sighed with obvious relief. Tommy got the feeling this talk had helped a lot.

"And we do have some leads on fixing your gem," he added, knowing that the state of Trent's gem tended to affect Trent's state of mind.

Trent took a deep breath, as if realizing something. "I haven't had a vision in days, come to think of it...."

"Probably just as well," Tommy said, relieved to hear that Trent hadn't seen anything. It meant something... good.

Trent looked at him carefully, clearly contemplating something.

"Trent, how many times do I have to say it before you believe you can tell me anything?" Tommy asked, squeezing his shoulder again.

Trent nodded, but he still looked rather shell-shocked. "I know, but... I can't find the words to say what I want to say."

"Take your time," Tommy squeezing Trent's shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere."

Trent shook his head. "I just... I'm going through a lot right now. I just dream of a day where I don't need my headband and I don't need my bracelet. Especially my bracelet."

"I think we'll make progress on the headband," Tommy said, reassuring him. "Hayley's working on something less obtrusive than the one you're wearing as a stopgap measure. That bracelet... it's going to become a part of you. You may not always have to use it--in fact, on average these days, the active career of a Ranger team is about a year--but you'll always need it around, just in case."

"Why?" Trent asked, mystified. He looked at his hated bracelet. "Why would I need it, after I finish being a Ranger?"

"Did I ever tell you about my mission to the moon a couple of years ago?"

Trent shook his head, wondering what that had to do with anything. Or even what it was.

Tommy smiled. "Let me tell you about that...."

* * *

Trent walked into second period English a few days later, and started looking for an empty seat. He smiled as he realized that there was one right where he wanted to be. "Hi, Kira." Trent put his notebook down on the table next to hers and pulled out the chair.

Kira looked up at him from her science notes. "You're in my English class?" Kira asked.

Trent nodded. "After Dr. O got Dr. Burgess to swap my classes out. Not that I mind. It's tough enough being one of us and being his student--Dr. O having custody of me was one thing too many."

Kira stared. "He's adopting you?"

"He couldn't just let me crash at his place forever," Trent said with a shrug. "I mean, one of these days we'd have the authorities wondering where Anton Mercer's son is staying if Anton's been missing for so long."

Kira nodded, once the shock had finished. "I guess that's for the good." She took a good hard look at him. "You look tired."

"Battle yesterday," Trent whispered. He didn't want to mention that mental battles were, in some ways, tougher than physical ones. And he'd warred with his emotions long enough the last few nights.

"You sure that's all?" Kira asked, eyes narrowing in concern.

Trent shrugged. "Dr. O made me go to bed early, after I finished my homework, so I had plenty of sleep. Especially now that I'm not grounded."

Kira laughed. "No more 6 AM jogs?"

"Nope," Trent said, smiling. "I'm still tired, though. Maybe hanging out with Rocky is making me more empathic."

"Huh?" Kira asked.

"Rocky... um, never mind." Telling Rocky's and Hayley's secret would not be a good thing, he realized.

Kira gave him a look, then nodded. "Make sure you get enough rest--you're not going to do yourself any good if you tire out."

Trent shrugged, not worried about it for the moment. "If I continue to be tired, I'll ask Hayley or Dr. O. I think it's just everything going on."

Kira nodded as the teacher walked in. "Sounds like a plan."

Trent gave her a small grin as class started.

* * *

Trent finished sweeping the floor up at the CyberCafe, knowing that Hayley was going to drive him home. Or maybe teleport him. He certainly hadn't seen her car this afternoon. She'd given him a grin when he arrived, and now that the last teenager was gone, the mysterious grin was back. Which meant that she was up to something. Even Tomorrow People could be up to something, sometimes.

"What's going on?" Trent asked as he headed to the back room to put the broom away.

"Tommy's meeting us here," Hayley said simply.

"For?" Trent asked, shifting uncomfortably--the broom forgotten for the time being. What was Dr. O up to?

"It's a surprise," Hayley said mysteriously.

"Ooohkay," Trent said dubiously, drawing out the word. He took a calming breath as he entered the back room and placed the broom in the supply closet. Probably Dr. O was picking up another Ranger at the airport. Just what Trent needed, another pep talk. He went back to counter, eyeing Hayley skeptically.

"He had to pick up something from your place," she said reassuringly. "He'll be here shortly."

"All right," Trent said, shifting nervously. He hoped this wasn't *another* former Ranger come to talk to him. It was possible that they got in that afternoon and had been hanging out at the house. Of course, he'd clicked with Rocky, so maybe Dr. O had given up on that. None of the formerly evil Rangers had made as much sense as Rocky had.

Dr. O showed up about ten minutes later, with something wrapped up in cloth, and a large stack of paper.


	4. Chapter 4

Trent stared, wondering why Dr. O was carrying the paper. Was he planning to grade at the Cafe or something? "I thought the term paper wasn't due until next week?"

"Oh, no, I thought you might appreciate this," Dr. O said, grinning like a madman, and handing him what looked like a long document.

"What's this?" Trent asked, still mystified.

"Finalized adoption papers. I have formal legal guardianship of you now," Dr. O said. He handed the cloth to Hayley. Trent could see something brown and silver inside, and that impression was confirmed when it turned out to be a leather-and-metal headband of some kind.

Trent looked from Dr. O to Hayley. Then back. Then looked from one to the other again. "I'm not sure what to say."

Hayley grinned. "At least you're safe now. Where ever Anton Mercer is, he can't take you back. And..." she indicated the headband, "this is yours."

"Another headband?" Trent asked. He carefully put the custody papers on the counter and accepted the headband. Then removed his hat, and swapped the headbands. "It's a lot more comfortable," he said happily.

"Anyway, I thought we might go out to dinner to celebrate," Dr. O said, wrapping an arm around Trent's shoulders.

Trent put his hat back on. "OK, sounds good, Dr. O." Trent stepped backwards, catching the disappointed look on Dr. O's face. "Or do I have to call you Dad now?" he asked quietly.

He felt Dr. O stiffen at the comment. Trent winced, not good.

"If you want to," Dr. O said, obviously torn by what to say. "I know it's a big change--and you've all ready called two people by that name all ready--which is more than most people. So if you'd rather not, that's fine." He paused. "And you can put that under your hair, Trent. No hats needed."

Trent took off the hat, rearranging his hair, absently, studying his guardian. He seemed completely uncomfortable.

Dr. O came over, gently hiding the headband underneath Trent's dark hair. "What is it Trent?"

"I... just... would Tommy be OK?" he blurted. It didn't sound any worse than anything else he could call his new foster father. And Dr. O suddenly seemed very formal.

Dr. O smiled at that. "That's fine. It's what everybody calls me anyway."

"Come on," Hayley said, slinging an arm around both of them. "Let's celebrate."

Trent closed his eyes, a vision overcoming him. "Um, might want to postpone the celebration...."

"Monster?" Dr. O--Tommy asked, his voice tinged with resignation.

"Monster," Trent confirmed.

Hayley sighed. "You're right, Tommy. These villains do have lousy timing. You two had better round up the rest of the team while I get back to the Lab."

She disappeared in a flash of light.

"Right," Dr. O--Tommy, Trent corrected--said. He led Trent outside. "Hayley, monster yet?"

"Not quite yet, but given Trent's visions, it should be pretty soon." Hayley sounded both out of breath and businesslike.

"Right," Tommy said, turning towards Trent. "Any idea as to where, Trent?"

"Abandoned warehouse district," Trent said. Where else would the monsters attack?

"Right," Dr.--Tommy said. He hit the voice talk button on his morpher. "Dr. O for team."

"Conner here. What's up, Dr. O?" Conner asked.

Kira chimed in a second later. "Kira here."

"Ethan. Go."

"Trent saw a monster in the Abandoned Warehouse District," Tommy explained. "Morph and meet me there."

"Right," the three chorused.

"I'm coming too," Trent said firmly.

Tommy looked at him in surprise, then nodded and summoned his morpher.

Trent did likewise.

"Dino Thunder! Power up!" Tommy called, Trent's call coming a second behind his.

The two of them morphed. Trent wished he hadn't seen himself fighting, but he had.

"Dr. O, where's the monster?" Kira asked, over the 'comm.

Tommy glanced at Trent, raising an eyebrow.

"Not sure yet, Kira," Trent said into his morpher. "Somewhere in the warehouse district."

"You sure?" Kira asked, sounding doubtful.

"Pretty sure," Trent said. "Abandoned warehouse district."

"Okay," Conner said, plainly concerned about Trent's sanity.

"Look, my foresight, except for the time I was bonding, runs about ten minutes into the future."

"So we've got some time," Ethan said, putting a hand to the bottom of his helmet. "This is good. What did you see? Maybe we can like, come up with a plan."

Trent took a deep breath. "It's got a tough hide--we're having trouble blasting it. I think we're going to need a lot of power."

"Hayley, how are those modifications coming?" Tommy asked into the comm.

"Working on them," Hayley replied, clacking keys accompanying her voice over the comm.

"Right, we'll just have to come up with something else," Tommy said, seeming thoughtful.

"So, Super Dino Mode?" Conner asked Dr O... Tommy.

"Super what?" Trent asked back, wondering what he was missing. Probably a lot. And now was not a good time to feel out of the loop.

"You'll see," Kira said, her helmet tilting in such a way that he knew she was smiling sympathetically at him.

Tommy put a concerned hand on Trent's shoulder. Trent turned, but realized Dr. O couldn't see him glaring.

Instead he asked, without the 'comm, "Super Dino Mode?"

"Some neat strength powers," Tommy explained. "It's probably best you don't remember."

"O-okay," Trent said dubiously. What wasn't Tommy telling him? What had he forgotten?

"Um... I think we just found Trent's monster," Kira said into her 'comm.

"Where?" Tommy asked, hand tensing as it left Trent's shoulder.

"I've got a location," Hayley said. "Sending it to you now, Tommy."

"Right," Tommy said. "Let's go," he said to Trent.

"Right," Trent said, gulping inwardly but heading into battle.

* * *

"I think I'm about ready to take a nap," Trent said later as they finished their dinners at Fred's Natural Foods Cafe.

"OK, Buddy, let me get the check and we'll get you home," Tommy said, waving at a waiter with his free hand. The one that wasn't draped around Trent's shoulders, supporting the tired young Ranger.

"It has been a long day," Hayley said sympathetically. "Let me know if that headband causes headaches or anything like that."

"I will," Trent yawned, covering his mouth just in time. "Sorry."

"Long day, and that monster was tough," Tommy told him gently. "Don't be ashamed."

"Plus your transformation takes more energy than everybody else's," Hayley added, reaching around Tommy to pat Trent's shoulder.

"Is that why I'm so tired after a battle?" Trent asked, leaning against his guardian a little--sitting up was getting hard. Well, that and being close to Tommy made him feel safer than he'd felt in a long time.

Hayley nodded. "And why you looked like death warmed over the first few days."

"I thought that was just trying to fight being evil," Trent said quietly.

"That too," Hayley replied in the same tone, "but the morphs didn't help."

Trent nodded.

"I'm working on something that will help you retain some energy," Hayley said mysteriously. "It's still a prototype, though, and it's too large to be portable."

"Sounds good." Trent yawned sleepily, trying to resist the temptation to lean against Tommy more. He wasn't sure his new guardian would appreciate it.

The waiter came back with the check, and Tommy immediately handed him his credit card, watching waiter and credit card disappear into the restaurant

"Hayley, why don't you take him out to the car?" Dr. O--Tommy--asked.

Trent started to say something, then stopped. He wasn't sure that he really qualified as awake, and anything that had to be said could be said later.

"Sounds good, come on, Trent," Hayley said, in an encouraging tone.

Trent reluctantly sat up and followed Hayley outside.

"You're allowed to say 'I'm comfortable and don't want to move yet', you know," Hayley teased him.

Trent just shrugged. He was so tired, he really didn't care. Had he ever been this tired, prior to the stupid Gem bonding with him?

"Come on, let's get you in the car." Hayley threw an arm around Trent's shoulders, guiding him towards the jeep.

"How come you have Tommy's spare key, anyway?" Trent mused as Hayley opened the passenger door.

Hayley shrugged. "Sometimes I do drive, you know. And I don't like to advertise what I can do."

"Yes, but you have your own car," Trent pointed out as he climbed in. Sitting down again felt like a good idea.

"He trusts me with it." Hayley shrugged. "You never know when he might need to have his car driven somewhere. He has a key to my car too, it's just a good idea."

"Point taken," Trent said, giving a slight nod.

Hayley gave him a hug, as if empathizing with his tiredness. "I think I see Tommy coming out."

Trent raised an eyebrow, spotting Dr--Tommy--exiting the restaurant. "Anything else I should know?"

Hayley patted his head in amusement. "Very funny."

Trent inwardly shook his head, but let his former teacher and new father get to the car without further comment.

Hayley smiled, leaving Trent with Tommy. "I'll bring the prototype tomorrow."

"Thanks, Hayley," Trent said, still wondering what the prototype would do.

"You sure you don't want a ride?" Tommy asked Hayley, looking around with concern. "There's security cameras everywhere."

"We're not that far from my place, protecto-boy." Hayley rolled her eyes in frustration. "I was going to walk."

"And she can defend herself," Trent reminded Tommy, remembering how touchy Rocky was about that issue.

Tommy looked from one to the other, clearly not sure how to react to that.

Hayley held up her 'comm device. "I'll be fine, Tommy, don't worry."

Tommy let out a breath. "Okay."

Hayley walked off, and Tommy started the car. Trent wasn't sure, but he thought he heard, "Way to gang up on me guys," muttered under the engine starting up.

* * *

"No monsters so far this week," Ethan said, relief evident in his voice as they walked casually down the street.

"No visions, either, right?" Kira asked, nudging her boyfriend. Or would-be boyfriend, anyway. Trent hoped that he'd become her official boyfriend, but he wasn't sure if that would ever happen.

"Right," Trent said as they stopped in front of the theater. "We should be free and clear."

"Yeah, I really didn't want to worry about getting interrupted in the middle of Harry Potter," Ethan said, getting his money out as they joined the line.

"Like you haven't read the book like a zillion times," Kira teased.

"I still can't believe you didn't see the first two, Trent," Ethan said, turning towards their newest teammate.

Trent shrugged, not wanting to explain that his Dad had been less than keen on Trent joining the Harry Potter craze. "I have now," Trent pointed out. "You lent me the DVDs remember? Drove Dr. O crazy though, he's a book purist."

"Why do you do that?" Conner asked quietly, studying Trent as if there was something amiss.

"What?" Trent asked, folding his arms and bracing himself for the Red Ranger's latest tirade.

"Keep calling him Dr. O around us," Conner said. "I mean, he's your guardian now..."

"Habit," Trent said, shrugging it off. "He was Dr. O before he was Tommy."

Ethan frowned. "I could see you slipping a bit, but you've corrected yourself in mid 'Tommy' once or twice."

Trent shrugged again, not really wanting to discuss it.

"He's your guardian now, Trent," Kira reminded him. "You don't have to pretend--not around us."

"Especially around us," Conner pointed out. "Teammates, remember?"

Trent nodded, not wanting to explain exactly why he still called his guardian Dr. O. "I know that, but it's my way of feeling normal."

"It's normal calling your guardian 'Dr. O'?" Ethan asked.

"Ethan's right, dude," Conner said as they walked into the theater. "Dr. O's practically your Dad now. You should have like, a personal relationship with him."

Trent took a deep breath. How could he explain that he'd never wanted any of this, that he just wanted to go home and draw? Instead, he was stuck as a Ranger. He knew that the other three hadn't chosen to bond with their gems either, but at least they'd started out good.

"Plus, I think he might like it more," Kira added as they got into line at the box office. "The last time I saw the look on his face when you called him Dr. O was when Conner botched a kick he'd been getting right for weeks."

"I call him that at home," Trent said as the line moved up again. "Well, most of the time."

"You'd slip less if you weren't trying to use different things depending on where you are," Conner pointed out. "Consistency is important for breaking habits, dude."

"And he keeps clinching his teeth when you call him Dr. O during practice," Ethan said. "Four for Harry Potter, please," he told the ticket seller as they got to the head of the line.

"It's taking a while for me to get used to it," Trent said.

The four teens handed various bills to the ticket seller. Ethan took the tickets and handed them round as they headed for usher taking tickets.

"We're just saying, man, don't worry about making us uncomfortable," Conner said as he handed the ticket taker his ticket. "You've got enough of your own issues to work through without ours to deal with."

"Does this theater have stadium seating?" Trent asked, unequivocally changing the subject.

* * *

"So," Kira asked one afternoon after training, "How did you get to Silver Hills, anyway? Last time we saw you, you were trying to hike out of town."

Trent blushed at the memory of trying to run away and having it not go well. "I'd tell you, but you'd hit me. And then Dr. O would ground me again...."

Kira's eyes widened at Trent's blush. "Will you tell me if I promise not to tell him?"

"No," Trent said, intending the conversation to be at an end.

Kira turned on the full set of puppy dog eyes, trying to guilt the answer out of him. "Please?"

"No," Trent said stubbornly. "It's... um...."

"Are you ticklish?" Kira asked mischievously, reaching for Trent's sides with her index fingers.

"No!" Trent exclaimed, dashing away from her fingers.

"Uh-huh," Kira said, giving chase.

A ball flew exactly between them. Trent dodged out of the way and dashed back to the house.

Kira picked up the ball without looking back towards the house. "Very funny, Conner."

"He all ready went home, remember?" Dr. O asked from the doorway.

Kira looked at the ball. "So, you got bored?" she asked, looking up at Dr. O, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

Dr. O shrugged. "I wanted to get your attention."

Trent stopped glancing at Kira. "I guess we should study," he said, remembering why Kira was supposedly there.

"That might be a very good idea," Dr. O said neutrally. "And no tickling," he added sternly.

Kira looked at him quizzically. "What's wrong with tickling?"

"You'll understand when you're older," Dr. O said mysteriously. "Scoot."

Kira joined Trent and they headed into the house, heading up to what was now his room. She looked around; Tommy had started framing some of Trent's better pictures, which brought color to his otherwise mostly white room. His few belongings were on shelves and in drawers, but it was distinctly homier than when Trent had first moved in. Trent picked up his book. "Come on, I don't want to flunk Mrs. Greene's Algebra class."

"Leave the door open," Tommy said from the hallway as he walked past.

"Do you see it closed?" Trent muttered under his breath irritably.

"Haven't you wanted to put some posters up?" Kira asked as she dug into her backpack, taking in the spartan room.

"Haven't found any that I like," Trent confessed as he opened his book. "I've kinda soured on heroes since *this* happened." He indicated his bracelet. "And for some reason, I couldn't find any Kira Ford posters."

Kira flushed, opening her book. "You could ask Ethan for some good poster sites. There must be other things you're interested in."

"Let's just study, OK?" Trent shifted uncomfortably.

Kira shook her head. "Okay." She paused, nudging Trent. "You sure you don't want to tell me how you got all the way to Silver Hills?"

"No," Trent said, looking down at his book. "I made it through alive, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" Kira echoed, frowning. Her grip around her pen tightened. "Trent, are you OK?" She was three seconds away from finding where Dr. O had run off to and repeating what Trent had just said.

"I just... I'm still trying to deal with the Gem," Trent confessed softly, refusing to meet her eyes.

Kira nodded, patting Trent's shoulder. "I know it's hard, Trent. But... look, you're not having thoughts of suicide, are you?"

Trent shook his head. "No."

Kira breathed a sigh of relief. "Just checking."

"But maybe we could tackle Algebra before Tom--Dr. O grounds me again when I flunk?" Trent squeezed her hand, trying to get her off the subject.

"Tommy," Kira reminded him firmly. "If you don't start calling him Tommy, I swear I'm going to start calling him that."

"Don't do it in school!" Trent exclaimed, panicking. "You'd have detention for a week!"

Kira made a face at that. "Don't remind me."

Trent took a deep breath, realizing that he had better start doing it. Kira was serious. "Okay, I'll remember to call him Tommy."

"That's my guy," Kira said, patting his shoulder and then indicating a spot in the book. "OK, so let's start here."

 

* * *

Tommy had been pacing ever since Hayley had shown up with her prototype--and then hightailed it back to the Cyberspace. Trent was so exhausted from the battle immediately after school that Hayley and Tommy had both forced him to take off work. Trent wasn't sure what to make of that, either to feel relieved or be irritated.

"So, how are you feeling?" Tommy asked, ceasing pacing long enough to study Trent critically.

Trent was resting beneath Hayley's device, looking at a book--or trying to. His guardian's pacing was unnerving.

Still, it was better to tell the truth. "It feels funny," Trent admitted.

"I'm sure," Tommy said sympathetically. "But better? Worse?"

"Better," Trent said. He really did feel better, and besides, he didn't want Dr. O--Tommy, he reminded himself--to stay home since he was supposed to meet up with some of his old friends.

"You sure you're all right?" Tommy asked, frowning. "We could meet here if you want me to stick around."

"I'll be okay," Trent said reassuringly, not wanting to have a bunch of other former Rangers staring at him. "I'll just do my reading for English."

Tommy rubbed his face. "I know, but...."

"Dr. O, just go," Trent said, feeling a little short-tempered. Yes, he understood that his guardian was worried about him. But Dr... Tommy needed to remember that he had a life before he adopted Trent sometimes as well.

Tommy stepped back a bit. "Trent...."

"I just need some space," Trent told him. "I'll stay under the shower while you're out."

"You sure you're all right?" Tommy fussed, hovering near his charge.

Trent nodded, not feeling all that great, but wanting to be left alone. Away from Tommy's fussing. He wasn't used to people fussing over him when he didn't feel well. Truth be told he rather liked it that way. Mostly, he just wanted to be left alone. "Just go. I know how much Conner and Ethan want to be at the beach party."

Tommy chuckled, no doubt at the eagerness of their teammates. "OK, call if you need me." His guardian looked concerned.

"I will, worrywart," Trent said affectionately. "And Hayley can be here in half a second if I get into real trouble."

"True," Tommy said, frowning.

"I'll be *fine*," Trent said. "*You*, on the other hand, need some time that doesn't involving being a Power Ranger or my guardian."

"So I should go plan a Ranger beach party?" Tommy shook his head at Trent's logic and left.

Relieved to have some peace and quiet at last, Trent returned to his book.

* * *

"So, how's Trent?" Wes wanted to know when Tommy arrived picnic area of Reefside Municipal Park where the Ranger Beach Party Planning Committee meeting was.

"Better," Tommy said, honestly. "Still going through an adjustment period though. And he *is* a teenager, so I'm not sure what his normal level of angst should be, but from what I saw before all this happened, it's still too high."

Wes nodded. "He was pretty desperate when we met. I'm glad he has someone there for him." He paused. "Has he accepted being a Ranger and having teammates? He kind of reminded me of a mini-Eric."

"He's getting better about having teammates," Tommy said as he sat down. "He's actually letting them include him in team activities. They all went to see Harry Potter last week. I'm not sure he's ever going to accept being a Ranger."

"I know you're doing your best," Wes said reassuringly. "And I know only he can accept being a Ranger. We can't force him."

Tommy nodded in response. "Man, I thought I had it tough when I joined."

Wes sat back. "Your power wasn't evil," he said. "Trent's is."

"I know. Hayley continues to look into fixing that, but it's not looking good. Plus, being a Ranger tires Trent out. If it weren't for the energy shower, he'd be in bad shape." Tommy fought the urge to sigh. No matter how much he did for Trent, it never seemed like it was enough. Ever.

Wes nodded wisely. "Let's just be glad you've got a genius technical person to come up with these things."

"No kidding," Tommy replied, looking around. "Know where T.J. and Kelsey are? Usually I'm the late one."

"Kelsey's stuck in traffic," Wes told him. "She called me a few minutes ago. T.J.'s with her."

Tommy settled back in his chair, ignoring an urge to call Trent and make sure that the other Ranger was all right. Then he reminded himself that the energy shower interfered with the comm signal. Plus Trent would be annoyed. He didn't want to annoy Trent more than he had all ready. That just couldn't be good for him.

"You all right?" Wes asked gently.

"Trent was feeling kind of off," Tommy said, forcing himself to shrug. "I left him in the energy shower."

"We could've met at your place," Wes offered, reaching for the folders he'd spread on the picnic table. "We still can."

"Trent seemed pretty opposed to that," Tommy said with a frown.

Wes nodded. "Then I think we'd better let him be. He feeling stifled?"

Tommy nodded. "I think so."

"You do have a tendency to hover a bit," Wes said.

"I know," Tommy said. He checked his watch. "But I also had to put out an alert on him, so I worry."

"I think we scared the hell out of him," Wes said, rearranging the folders on the table. "It probably didn't help matters any. You might try giving him a little more space now and then. You pull too hard in one direction, and he'll just try to pull the other way."

Tommy nodded again. "That's why we're having this here instead of at my place. I offered to move the meeting and he practically pitched a fit. As it is, I don't know if he'll even want to come to the party."

"I'd leave getting him to the party up to the rest of the team," Wes said, smiling slightly at some fond memory.

Tommy grinned. "Kira in particular."

Wes grinned back, full smile in force. "Nothing like young Rangers in love." His smile turned bittersweet, and Tommy knew he was thinking of Jen.

Tommy nodded yet again. "If I have to get Trent to do anything, Kira's the way to go."

"I wish you'd told us that before we tried to take him back to Reefside," Wes said, examining the folders again.

"From what Jase tells me, not even that was working at the time," Tommy said. "Wish it had."

"Guilt overwhelming the attraction?" Wes asked curiously.

"Guilt causing him to run away," Tommy responded. "He didn't want to be anywhere near Kira because of it--I hear he hurt her enough to force a demorph. I suspect he was trying to avoid a repeat performance."

"Poor kid." Wes shook his head. "Is he at least better settled in now that you've adopted him?"

"Rocky talked to you?" Tommy asked instinctively, frowning at how team gossip seemed to be spreading to other teams.

"I hear things." Wes shrugged. "People like to talk to me."

"He was worried I wasn't doing enough to speed things along?" Tommy asked, realizing how urgent Rocky had seemed about Trent.

Wes nodded. "He told me that he couldn't stand it anymore."

Tommy smiled sardonically. "I was gonna ask Jason to be Trent's godfather, but I might want to rethink that."

"You might," Wes agreed. "Trent and Rocky seem to get along great."

"That's because Rocky isn't happy being a Tomorrow Person," Tommy said, raising an eyebrow. "So he can sympathize. I think."

"At least he can understand how Trent is feeling, where you and Jason really can't."

Tommy nodded, bowing to Wes's wisdom. "I don't mind. At least that way Trent has someone he can talk to."

Wes nodded, giving him a small smile. At that moment, the other two appeared. "Sorry we're late," Kelsey said. "You didn't start without us, did you?"

* * *

"Oh, come on, you have to come to the beach party," Kira pleaded at Trent a few weeks later

Trent closed his math book and frowned at it. "And see all those people who were told to find me? No thanks."

"Trent, it's just that...." Kira paused in mid-sentence, reading the digging-in-his-heels look on Trent's face and changing tactics. "Look, I just think that it would be great to have you there to talk to. You don't have to be social to the rest of the Rangers."

"Kira, I've met every single formerly evil Ranger, the remaining part of the Time Force team, and part of Tommy's original team," Trent said grumpily. "People are going to remember me, and try to have me meet the rest of their teams. And their friends' teams, and their friends' friends' teams...."

"It won't be like that," Kira said reassuringly.

"Not to mention Tommy's probably going to want to show me off to his teammates." Trent shoved his math book into his backpack and started pacing. "Believe me, I'll be much better off doing anything else. Even watching the Mary Kate and Ashley marathon on ABC Family."

"Even you can't be that bored," Kira said, exaggeratedly pouting. "Come on, you'll just have to go where Dr. O can't find you, I'll tell him you're okay, and you can draw."

"He won't accept that, Kira." Trent shook his head. "Trust me."

Kira took his hand. "It won't be the same without you. Come on. Please?" She threw her patented puppy dog eyes at him.

Trent looked at her hand like it was a foreign object and let go. "I'm sorry, Kira. I just don't think I'd have a very good time, and I'd hate to make your day bad."

"If you don't come my day will be bad." Kira batted her eyelashes in the hopes he'd relent.

Trent sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry."

"OK, Trent, why don't you really want to go?" Kira persisted, placing her hands on his hips.

Trent sighed, closing his eyes. "Promise not to tell Tommy?"

Kira nodded.

"I'm not sure I'm ready to meet Justin." Trent's voice barely rose over a whisper.

Kira raised an eyebrow.

"It's complicated." Trent shook his hand again. "Really complicated."

Kira squeezed his hand. "Look, it'll be all right, if you're worried about meeting other Rangers, I'll keep them distracted."

"Not gonna help with Justin," Trent said, looking in the general direction of Justin's room. "Look, he and Tommy are really close... I'm kinda afraid he'll feel threatened."

"I'm sure he won't," Kira said, patting Trent's shoulder. "Look, if you don't go, you'll be stuck here all day."

"Nah, I'm sure I can find something to do," Trent said quickly. "I can go out in the woods and draw."

"You can draw on the beach." Kira crossed her arms. "Do you really think Dr. O's gonna let this Justin guy give you a rough time?"

Conner came into Trent's room unexpectedly. "And besides, the Ninja Storm Rangers are gonna be there, and they're gonna be looking to settle that score after Dr. O showed Cam up at that racing game. There's six of them, five of us; we're gonna need the whole team."

Trent stared at him like he'd just come from Mars with a green suntan.

"Sorry, door was open," Conner said, shrugging.

Trent wondered if hitting his head against his bed post would do him any good. "Why me?" he wondered.

"Come on, dude, this is a prime team bonding opportunity," Conner urged.

"Not to mention we're likely to get more dirt on Dr. O with you along," Ethan pointed out from the doorway.

How long before Tommy showed up too? Trent rolled his eyes. He had to become part of a Ranger team, didn't he? Not one of his brighter ideas. "All right."

"Yay!" Kira gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

Trent flushed.

Conner looked around appraisingly, ignoring his friend's discomfort. "Dude, you gotta get some more posters up in here. Not that your artwork isn't great, it's just that the walls are kinda bare."

Trent shrugged. "I'm still working on the decorations."

"Hey, I can show you a great poster site on the web...." Ethan offered.

Kira winked at Trent as if to say, "I told you so."

"Thanks, Ethan," Trent said with a smile.

"So you guys ready?" Tommy was leaning in the doorway, watching them with an indulgent grin.

Conner got up. "Almost, we just have to get Trent ready."

Tommy held up a bag, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Got one ready, including a backup headband and Hayley's prototype portable shower generator."

Trent stared at his smiling guardian. "I didn't really have a choice, did I?"

Tommy shrugged. "I had it ready in case you changed your mind."

"Ranger teams!" Trent grumbled. "You were going to carry me out bodily if you had to."

"I most certainly would not have done that," Tommy said seriously.

"Uh-huh," Trent said dubiously. He wondered if he could go back in time and stop his younger self from touching the Gem. Trying that would certainly be more sane than anything really going on in his life at that moment.

"Ok, guys, let's get ready and head out there," Tommy said, hefting Trent's bag.

"Woohoo! Beach, here we come!" Ethan crowed, moving quickly.

Conner rolled his eyes. "Great, now he'll spend all his time on that handheld of his."

"I will not!" Ethan exclaimed. "You know, I'm going to make you regret that statement...."

"Come on," Kira said, pulling Trent forward. She gave him a smile that melted his heart, and he had no choice but to relent.

"Ok, Ok, I'm coming," Trent said softly.

* * *

Trent had managed to find a slightly secluded spot in which to practice his drawing, and true to her word, Kira was distracting some of the other Rangers, allowing him to sit in his chair and sketch. He didn't dare go in the water, thanks to his headband. Besides, the whole idea was to make Tommy and the rest of his team happy while he tried to stay away from the other Rangers in attendance. After all, he wasn't really one of them. Not that any of them got that, but he'd try to make them understand.

Kira plopped down next to him. "Dr. O's being distracted by someone on some team from some other galaxy."

"Fascinating," Trent said without even looking up from his sketch book.

"I talked to Justin," Kira said solicitously. "He seemed really nice."

Trent nodded absently. "I'm sure he's nice. It's just that he's got a room, and I've got a room, and I'm Dr - er, Tommy's newest adoptive son."

"He would like to meet you," Kira said, nodding at his worry.

Trent took a deep breath. Why did he never get a choice in these things? Sure, the guy was willing to give him a choice now, but they never really wanted to give him an option. "All right." Best to make things as pleasant as possible. Otherwise word would get back to Dr. O about how antisocial he was.

"It'll be OK," Kira said, squeezing his hand warmly. She got up, returning to the knot of people nearby--including Conner, Ethan, several of the Ninja Storm Rangers, and a boy wearing blue shorts and a Mariner Bay University t-shirt that must have been Justin.

The boy approached, carrying a blue back pack. "Hey, little brother," he said with a wide grin.

Trent hoped the knot forming in his stomach wasn't showing on his face. "Hi, Justin." Trent tried to smile.

"You got a backpack?" Justin asked. He glanced over his shoulder at where Tommy was occupied with Karone and another pink-clad woman that Trent hadn't met.

"Yeah, why?" Trent asked, confused. Why was Justin looking at Tommy like he was about to do something that Tommy wouldn't approve of?

Justin reached into his blue backpack, and pulled out a grocery bag. In it was a large selection of candy bars.

The knot in his stomach loosened and Trent found himself smiling. "I take it you're not big on Tommy's food choices either."

"Been there, done that, ate the food and sneaked off to find the nearest Big Mac." Justin winked. "Hurry, before he notices."

The two of them got a sizable amount of candy secreted in Trent's backpack. "Thanks."

"That must be the prototype that Hayley's working on," Justin said, referring to the energy shower that they'd put the candy bars under.

Trent realized that Tommy was looking over at them.

"How's it working?" Justin asked.

"Um... I haven't tried this one out, but the non-portable one works fine," Trent said, nonplussed.

"That's good, wouldn't want you passing out on us," Justin said cheerfully. "Is he coming over?"

"Just watching like a hawk," Trent said, taking a peek at Dr. O - Tommy. "How come you know about the prototype?"

"I helped Hayley figure out some of the theory of it," Justin said with a shrug.

Trent nodded. It figured that Justin had helped. "I just hope I don't need it. I'm not big on being here as it is. I don't want to attract attention to myself."

"No problem," Justin said lightly. "Hey, I'm your big brother. I can protect you from the rest of them."

Trent chuckled at that. "Like anyone here could get through Tommy?"

Justin frowned, noticing a black man in green approaching. "One or two can. That's Joel--do me a favor and watch my bag, OK?"

Trent wrinkled his nose in confusion. "What's..."

"Just stay put," Justin ordered, gesturing with his hands. He stood up and walked towards the presumptive Green Ranger.

The man pulled out a super soaker from behind his back and fired at Justin. The water stopped in midair and made a U-turn--blasting Justin's assailant in the face.

The knot of Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder Rangers burst into giggles.

Justin eyed them skeptically while the man with the water gun glared in open hostility.

"Never pull that garbage with a Water Ninja around," Blake taunted, his arm around Tori.

Tori giggled. "Serves you right!"

"Hey, I shot him fair and square!" the man proclaimed, once he could speak again.

"Thanks, Tori," Justin said, smiling broadly.

"No problem," Tori replied. She winked at Trent.

"It's time to give it up, Joel, you've done this three years running," Justin said, teasing the older man.

"Hey, as Danny would say, 'never give up'!" Joel said cheerfully. "I'll get you next year."

Trent shook his head in amusement. He didn't know what to expect out of the annual beach gathering, but it was obviously the party of the year. At least most of the Rangers were too busy catching up and celebrating to pay much attention to him.

"Yeah, right," Justin said, mostly to himself, moving back towards Trent now that he was sure his "little brother" wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

Trent got up, standing next to Justin. "We should give him double trouble next year."

Justin grinned. "Two to one, Joel," he called.

Joel grinned back, and disappeared down the beach, joining an impromptu game of dodge ball.

"So, you coping?" Rocky asked from behind Justin and Trent. Trent turned around to find his godfather holding a fast-asleep baby girl.

Trent smiled. "I'll live."

"That's good." Rocky patted Trent's shoulder. "You behaving yourself, Justin?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "Do I ever?"

Rocky grinned. "Sometimes." He shuffled Teresa in his arms a little bit. "Sorry I'm a bit late--if you need help chasing people off, Trent, let me know."

"Thanks, Rocky," Trent said, smiling a bit.

"Kira's doing a pretty good job of that on her own," Justin said with a wink.

Trent shoved Justin affectionately. "Don't go there."

"I'll leave you guys to have fun," Rocky said absently, smiling widely. "Have fun!" With that, he walked towards Tommy. Trent only hoped that Rocky distracted his former teammate so he didn't get the third degree about his meeting with Justin.

"There's talk of some beach volleyball," Justin said, motioning further down the beach where some others were gathered. "Want to play?"

"Nah," Trent said, suddenly feeling tired. He hoped he wasn't going to have to do a field test of the shower. "I'm going to just relax. Conserve my energy."

Justin frowned at that, looking towards Trent's bag. "OK, if you're sure. Pretty much everyone's cool, but Joel can be a bit of a prankster when he sets his mind to it."

"I noticed," Trent commented. "I'll be fine." At least he was at the moment. He so hoped he wouldn't get dizzy.

Trent sat in his chair, took a deep breath, and relaxed. He wished that he would be left alone, but at least nobody was pushing him to be social.

He settled back with his drawings.

Come join us if you change your mind," Justin said, dubiously. With that, he headed down the beach to join in the festivities.

Trent happily started drawing, getting lost in his own world. Until a shadow fell over him. Trent looked up, shading his eyes against the sun to see a brown ponytailed young woman in a yellow bikini watching him. She was nervously playing with a pair of headphones around her neck.

"Um, hi?" Trent said, wishing, absently, that Kira had elected for that suit. She would've looked really good in it.

"Hi, Trent, I'm Kelsey Winslow," the woman said, moving out of the sun so Trent wouldn't have to squint. "I'll understand if you just want to be alone, but since I'm the only other person to suffer an all-Ranger alert, I thought you might like to vent."

"Hi," Trent repeated, wondering if Kira had let her through. But Kelsey was right. He wanted to know how she had dealt with it. "What was it like for you?"

Kelsey settled down on the blanket, getting comfortable to tell her story. "Let's just say that I never took off like that again. I wanted to be alone, and this is me--I live my life on impulse a lot. I didn't think anyone would worry if I just did some hiking."

"If there's one thing I learned, it's never disappear on this group," Trent said, glancing over at his teammates throwing a frisbee with the Wind Rangers and a group he didn't recognize.

"Right," Kelsey said. "My life would've been easier if I'd taken five minutes to leave Chad or Dana a voicemail. The hardest part was Carter--that's my Red Ranger--reaming me out. And he *knows* I like to wander!"

"Rumor has it he lectured you in front of Jason," Trent said, recalling Jason's story from when they first met.

Kelsey looked at him for a minute, confused. "Oh. Yeah, I guess Jason would've been there. Carter was calling us to let us know he was back safely from the moon mission--and he had to give me a rough time about actually remembering to call *his* teammates to let them know what's going on."

"I'll probably be hearing about this for years to come, too," Trent said ruefully. "But all I could think of at the moment was that it wasn't safe for me to be there."

Kelsey nodded. "At least at the end of the day, you were trying to protect people. I was just trying to hide. I skipped all the excitement of people chasing after me though."

"I hear you just got handed a cell phone," Trent said, wondering why his capture couldn't have been so calm.

"Actually, it was a growl phone, so the upside was I got to check out Alyssa's morpher," Kelsey said. "And since I knew she had a morpher, I knew she wasn't there to hurt me."

Trent raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment about a morpher disguised as a cell phone. After all, his morpher spent most of its time as a metal bracelet with a white gem in it.

"I'm sure if I'd been missing longer, they probably would have started looking for my bio-signature, though," Kelsey said. She brightened, intent on changing the subject. "I hear you gave the Silver Guardians a merry chase."

Trent blushed at the memory. "I didn't know they weren't really military. I thought they wanted to study me or something. I didn't know that Tommy was one of the first Rangers or that there were so many other teams out there. All I knew was that these scary looking people said they were going to take me home."

"Didn't they tell you they were Rangers?" Kelsey asked curiously.

"Yeah, but I was a Ranger and oh so trustworthy at the time." Trent fingered his headband. "And they were pretty intimidating."

"And I would have said Wes Collins was Mr. Charm," Kelsey said, amused. "Most everybody likes him. But I know that both Eric and Taylor can be intimidating. I don't blame you." She paused. "Did you know those two were in a relationship?"

"No," Trent said.

"They're a good match," Kelsey said. "And I would have loved to see them trying to keep up with you. I hear they were chagrined by the way you eluded them."

Trent blushed. "I'm just lucky I chose Angel Grove and not Blue Bay Harbor. The Ninja Storm team would've had to destroy me or something instead of being able to help."

"Why do you say that?" Kelsey asked.

"They wouldn't have known what was going on if I'd have lost control of my morph or something," Trent pointed out

"That's true, they weren't up on all the action back then," Kelsey answered, looking at the other teens. "At least they're up to date now, and you can control your morph."

"Only because of this," Trent said, lifting up his bangs to show her his silver-and-brown headband. "Swimming is not a good idea for me right now."

"The water's really cold," Kelsey said. "Why do you think Tori and Chad aren't trying to show each other up on the waves right now?"

"Because Tori's too busy clinging to Blake?" Trent asked, nodding in their general direction. The two of them had bowed out of frisbee and were cuddling extensively

"Well, that too," Kelsey said, "but the water's *freezing*. You wouldn't enjoy it."

"Thanks," Trent said with a smile. He was starting to like Kelsey. Odd, that he was starting to feel a tiny bit comfortable with other Rangers--at least at the party.

"I take it you're trying to not have to talk to anybody." Kelsey clearly understood that a subject change was in order.

"Yeah." Trent glanced at his backpack--one of the candy bars Justin had brought him was sounding very good about then. "I'm kinda embarrassed about the whole Ranger Alert thing. I'm amazed Tommy isn't dragging me around introducing me to everyone."

"The guy has more sense than you think," Kelsey said, patting Trent's shoulder. "Plus I heard that Rocky had a word with him last night."

Trent shook his head. "Good old Rocky." He smiled. At least his godfather understood him.

Kelsey grinned. "You'd be surprised to find that most everybody doesn't think badly of you."

"Really?" Trent asked dubiously.

"You were trying to get away so that you didn't harm anyone," Kelsey said. "It was a noble instinct. Tommy called for an All-Ranger so he and the others could help you. Since you didn't know that help was possible--despite Kira's best efforts--you had the right idea. At least until someone could rescue you."

Trent stared at her, dumbfounded. He'd figured everyone had misinterpreted his actions as running away.

Kelsey shrugged. "It's true. Of course, with you panicking, and your mentor being who he is, Taylor used the best locator she had to find you."

Trent blushed, remembering the encounter.

"I'm just glad I didn't have Taylor's Eaglezord after me," Kelsey said. "I think I'd have never lived it down." She turned to Trent. "Don't worry, somebody down the line will have it worse than we do. I only had eight teams to worry about. You had ten. That means the next one will have twelve."

"And I'll probably foresee the whole thing," Trent said, knowing his gift.

Kelsey laughed. "It would save whoever gets alerted a whole lot of trouble."

Trent paused for a moment, and then grinned. "It would. At least then my Gem would be useful, for once."

Kelsey nodded. "Foresight comes in handy."

"Not as handy as super speed, rock-hard skin, or invisibility," Trent said. "My power, like my Gem, is uncontrollable."

"You can morph when you want to, right?" Kelsey asked.

"Yeah," Trent said. "Thanks to the headband."

"At least you have that," Kelsey pointed out.

Trent nodded. He still wasn't fond of the headband, but he'd live. "For which I'm very grateful... at least until someone figures out how to fix my Gem."

Kelsey nodded.

Trent leaned back in his chair. "I've never been so fussed over in my life before that alert!"

"Don't get me started on Chad when I got home," Kelsey said in commiseration.

"Can't be worse than Tommy and Hayley." Trent shook his head.

"Chad didn't let me out of his sight most of the next day," Kelsey said. "At least it wasn't Carter."

Trent chuckled. "That must've been interesting."

"I was ready to strangle him, teammate or no," Kelsey confessed. "And I *like* Chad."

"At least he couldn't ground you. OK, Tommy couldn't then either, but try having your science teacher hovering," Trent said. "I can't believe no one in class figured out anything was amiss before I was suddenly in Mr. Peterson's science class. Tommy was *always* shooting me worried looks."

"Now, that is something I'm glad I missed," Kelsey said. "But then again, I had to live on an underwater base for a year. I nearly went nuts!"

Trent shuddered at the thought. "I'd hate to live in the lab."

Kelsey nodded sympathetically. "I don't blame you. I lived with Dana for a year, and as soon as I handed in my morpher, I was *out* of there. I can't imagine how it is to live with the longest-serving Ranger--especially with him as a foster father."

"Better than when he was my science teacher," Trent said. "And don't tell him I told you this, but it's better than having Anton Mercer for a foster father."

Kelsey smiled. "I won't. Tommy's a good guy. Overprotective and has a tendency to go on guilt trips, but a good guy."

Trent nodded, knowing she spoke the truth.

Kelsey smiled sympathetically again. An asian man waved at her. "It looks like I'm being called. You okay here?"

Trent nodded again. "I'll be okay as long as Dr. O doesn't get any ideas."

Kelsey gave him an odd look, but got up to join her friend. "You want to meet Chad?"

"No, thanks, I'm still feeling antisocial," Trent said. "But thanks for letting me vent."

Kelsey grinned. "You're welcome. Tommy has my number--call if you want to vent again."

"I will," Trent told her. He watched her go as Kira rejoined him.

"See, this isn't so bad is it?" Kira leaned against his shoulder.

"Justin gave me candy." Trent lazily wrapped an arm around Kira's shoulders, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Obviously he knows Dr. O and Hayley too well." Kira giggled. "Let Conner, Ethan and I know when that stash runs out, we'll help you replenish. I hope Dr. O isn't being a pain?"

Trent shrugged, hugging Kira a little tighter. "He has a lot of friends to keep him occupied."

"That's good," Kira said, smiling and cuddling against him.

"He was watching Justin and me like a hawk, though," Trent said ruefully. "Like we might get into trouble."

"He probably just wanted to make sure you two were getting along OK," Kira said, shifting a little so she could take his hand.

"I'm getting along surprisingly well with everybody," Trent told her, he raised their joined hands to his lips, kissing her hand. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, I haven't talked to anybody who chased after me yet."

"Chicken," Kira teased, relaxing against Trent's chest.

"I am." Trent rested his chin on the top of her head. "Though I don't mind being here at the moment."

Kira smiled. "See?"

Trent just grinned and leaned in more.

* * *

"So, how was the beach party?" Hayley asked, leaning across the counter.

Trent shrugged as Hayley put the food on the tray. "Not as bad as I thought it would be. Made a few more friends."

"See?" Hayley said encouragingly. "I told you you'd have a good time."

Trent nodded. "After my team--the others made it clear I was going." He was suddenly conscious of the fact that non-Rangers could overhear.

"Your team," Hayley corrected gently.

Trent shrugged and picked his tray up. He'd explain to Hayley later. "Anyway, I did get to meet some new people."

"That's good." Hayley smiled broadly, but it seemed forced.

"You look worried," Trent said, wrinkling his nose.

Hayley shrugged back. "Go and deliver the drinks before Cassidy starts snapping her fingers again."

"Right," Trent said, heading for Cassidy's table.

"What took you so long?" Cassidy said sharply as he delivered her raspberry iced tea and Devin's smoothie.

Trent ignored her.

"Sorry about Cass," Devin whispered. "She really doesn't mean it."

Trent gave him a small smile and went to deliver the rest of his drinks. He didn't really want to go back to the counter--Hayley was obviously worried about his behavior--again. It was almost enough to drive a guy crazy the way she worried. He wondered how she and Tommy had been together so long.

"You OK, Trent?" Kira asked as he handed her a bottle of juice and began handing out shakes and smoothies to the rest of the band, compliments of Hayley.

Trent nodded in Cassidy's direction. "It's just you-know-who being her annoying self," he said.

"Who, Voldemort?" Kira studied him carefully. Then glanced at her band mates. Clearly, this wasn't the best place to talk.

"I'll talk to you later," he said, before she could voice the thought. "I better get back before anybody else wonders where their food and drink are." He turned away abruptly and hurried back towards Hayley, more anxious to avoid a long talk than to tend to his customers.

"Ok," Kira told Trent's retreating back.

Trent inwardly sighed. Couldn't he say anything without his teammates and Hayley tearing it apart, looking for hidden meanings? He got back to the counter and picked up a tray of food this time.

"Trent?" Hayley wrinkled her nose at her waiter in concern.

Trent knew her "we should talk" tone when he heard it. But he *really* didn't want to talk. "This is gonna get cold." He indicated the tray of burgers and fries.

"All right," Hayley said, her nose wrinkling more. "That should be the last of it."

"Thanks," Trent responded, heading out and hoping someone would flag him down with a *really* complicated smoothie order.

He could hear Hayley sigh as he headed over to couches by the windows to deliver the food. Couldn't he just work for once? Trent considered trying to find a job where his guardian's girlfriend *wasn't* his boss.

* * *

After his shift was over, while he was waiting for Dr. O to pick him up, Trent fished out his cell phone. He was just glad Tommy and his former teammates had all chosen the same phone company so he could call Rocky whenever he wanted. "Hey, Rocky."

"Hi, Trent. How's it going?" Rocky was cheery, and it sounded like he had just rocked Teresa to sleep.

"It's going," Trent said, a little more quietly, mindful of Rocky's daughter just in case she was near the phone or he was on speaker or something. "I just need to hear someone who's not one of my teammates, Hayley, or a customer."

"That bad?" Rocky asked, just as quietly.

"It's just... everyone's so worried all the time," Trent told him, glad he could tell *someone*. "It's draining being fussed over so much."

"You want me to talk to Tommy about this?" Rocky asked gently.

"No," Trent said, thinking momentarily about the possibility then deciding against it. "I guess... I just need you to listen."

"I'm here. What are they fussing about today?" Rocky asked in a warm tone.

"I'm not even sure." Trent let out a frustrated sigh. "Hayley and I were talking about the beach party and then she started looking worried. So I got annoyed. So Kira started worrying..."

"I think that, sometimes, you just scare them," Rocky said gently. "You're the first of us where the *Power* was actually evil. They should know better than to doubt you--or Hayley's headband."

"I know that, you know that," Trent said miserably, "someone forgot to tell them that."

"Not everybody can be an empath," Rocky pointed out.

Trent chuckled.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't one." Rocky paused, as if in thought. "When's your next team practice? Maybe you can bring it up then."

"Tomorrow," Trent said, making a face. "But I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Oh?" Rocky asked.

"It's likely to worry them more," Trent said miserably.

"That's true," Rocky replied. "And, of course, knowing Kira, she'll probably bring it up anyway."

"Unless they're just going to tippytoe around me," Trent said, still miserable.

Rocky sighed. "Maybe they're tiptoeing around you because you're tiptoeing around the subject yourself."

"So, you think I should air it out like dirty laundry," Trent said, leaning back. "At least to Kira."

"At the very least," Rocky told him. "Or Tommy or Hayley, if you'd rather. Just someone other than me. I'm always here for you, Trent, but I'm not the one driving you crazy."

"No wonder Tommy made you my godfather," Trent said, with a wry grin.

He could hear Rocky's amusement through the phone. "Every once in awhile, Tommy does exhibit common sense. I'll leave you to it, Trent. Keep me updated."

"Okay," Trent said. "Bye."

"Bye."

Trent hit the disconnect button and pocketed his cell phone.

Someone cleared their throat above him.

Trent looked up, craning his neck to see his guardian's face. "Um. Oh. Hi, Tommy." He paused for a moment, panicking. How much had Tommy heard? "How long have you been standing there?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Just a moment," Tommy said, gently. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." Trent scrambled to his feet. Was he in for another lecture?

"Good," Tommy said, touching his shoulder affectionately. "I know you have homework."

"Yeah." Trent followed his foster parent to the jeep. He gulped, then took a deep breath. Rocky hadn't steered him wrong before, right? "And I need to talk to you." He inwardly hoped that he wasn't making a bad situation worse.

Tommy touched his shoulder again. "What's up, Trent?"

"Everybody looks worried again, and won't tell me why," Trent told him, giving him a helpless look

Tommy looked at him carefully. "You seem kinda upset about this."

"I feel like people are trying to cushion me from something, and I'm smothering," Trent said, letting out extra air as he did so. Rocky was right--he felt a little better all ready. "Like nobody wants to crush any eggshells around me."

Tommy gave him a quick hug. "I'm sorry you're feeling smothered, Trent, but it's hard to know when you need help if you don't ask for it. Can I point out this is the first time I've heard that something was bothering you without Hayley dragging you to my place to talk to me. You talk to her, you talk to Rocky--who, by the way, I strongly suspect was on the other side of that phone call--but you don't talk to me, or to Kira, Ethan or Conner. We know you're going through a lot, Trent. But we can't help if you don't let us in."

"That's because I can't say anything without being assured I'm all right!" Trent told his teammate and guardian in frustration.

Tommy stared, unsure how to respond to that.

"It's like you're all scared I'll turn evil if you say the slightest thing critical of me. Like you're afraid of me." Trent stepped back a little, afraid Tommy might confirm his suspicions. He didn't *want* his teammates to be afraid of him. Not really.

"That's not true, Trent," Tommy said gently. "We know you're not going to be evil again. Not if we have anything to say about it."

"It feels like it," Trent said ruefully.

Tommy sighed--something he'd been doing a lot of since Trent had come into his life, it seemed. He paused for a moment, giving Trent's shoulder an affectionate squeeze while trying to figure out what to say. "Is there any particular thing I'm doing that's making you feel that way?"

"It's just that... I'm doing my best to integrate. I'm scared--and everybody being worried and scared is not helping me accept what happened to me."

Tommy studied his foster son carefully. His first instinct was to give Trent a big hug and tell him everything would be OK--but since that seemed to be setting him off, it felt like the wrong thing to do. "It'd be easier not to worry about you if you'd let us in a little more. If you'd act like you were part of the group instead of separate from it."

"I'm working on that." Trent scuffed his shoes on the pavement, talking so softly that Tommy had to strain to hear. "And it would also help if I could take the headband off more."

Tommy sighed again. "I know you hate it, buddy, but until we can figure out how to neutralize whatever Mesogog did to the gem, it's our best way of making sure you're still the one in charge."

Trent nodded. He didn't expect to win that argument, but he'd had to try. "And I am working with being with the rest of the team. I'm just not used to it."

Tommy put an arm around him. "I know. Sometimes the best way to get used to something is to just throw yourself into it headlong. It's safe now, you know. You can't get dragged to another Ranger Beach Party for a whole year."

Trent smiled. "That wasn't so bad." It really hadn't been.

"And yet you had to be practically dragged out of your room kicking and screaming," Tommy said, grinning and pulling Trent against him.

"Forty other Rangers converging in one place is kind of intimidating," Trent pointed out. "Especially when you're the newest Power Ranger. And got turned un-evil."

"If anyone had tried to scare you, they'd have had words with me," Tommy said, motioning in emphasis.

"Kira and Justin and Rocky kept people from converging on me at once," Trent replied, smiling contentedly about this. "Plus I think the worst scare of my life--besides when I realized that I was the White Ranger--was discovering Taylor had sent her Zord after me. I'm just glad I didn't panic, because I had a feeling there would shortly have been a Eaglezord-Dragozord fight in Angel Grove."

Tommy winced at the image. "That would've been bad."

Trent nodded emphatically. "I'm starting to bond more with my zord."

Tommy rubbed Trent's arm comfortingly. "That's good."

Trent bit his lip--it was time for another long shot, but he really wanted to try. "Anyway, I have some homework to do. I'm just glad there were no fights today - I want to stay up to watch that TV movie on ABC."

"If you really want to see them mangle A Wrinkle in Time." Tommy made a face.

"Just 'cause you're a book purist," Trent teased, shoving Tommy affectionately.

Tommy patted him on the arm led Trent towards the car. "I am, and don't you forget it."

Trent grinned as he climbed into the jeep. "Of course not. So, can I?"

Tommy buckled his seat belt. "Why don't you record it and watch the last hour tomorrow? I'd really rather you got enough sleep given what's going on."

Trent inwardly sighed. "All right."

* * *

"So, how's Trent?" Hayley asked, after said teenager had gotten to bed. Tommy had finished his prep work for the morning's class and was having a glass of juice before going to bed.

"Well, he opened up to me," Tommy said. "I think."

"That's a good sign," Hayley told him, settling down on the couch.

"Yeah," Tommy said, mindful of waking up the teenager. "He feels like we're smothering him."

Hayley grimaced at that. "Well, at least he told you."

"Yeah, it's a great leap forward," Tommy said, giving a nod. "Apparently everybody's been worrying too much."

"It's hard to help that." Hayley leaned her head on Tommy's shoulder.

"I know." Tommy wrapped an arm around Hayley's shoulders. "At least he made a few friends at the Beach Party. That'll help. Did he say anything worrisome today?"

"He called you guys his teammates, then corrected himself." Hayley leaned into his chest. "Scared the bejeezus out of me--after all this time, he's still thinking that way."

"I just wish I hadn't gotten stuck in the amber." Tommy put his glass of juice on the side table. "I know how difficult it was for Jason to get me to open up, and he was there when he broke me out of the spell."

Hayley just nodded, and cuddled closer. There was nothing she could say.

"What did he correct himself to?" Tommy asked.

"Just 'the others'." Hayley wrinkled her nose.

"I'll see if I can get him to open up more," Tommy said, sighing. "I'm just glad he is."

Hayley nodded. "How are you doing?"

"I'm starting to feel more like a parent every day," Tommy said. "Justin didn't really need much parenting by the time he came to live here. Trent does."

"Justin had a BA and a graduate assistantship by the time he came to 'live' here," Hayley told him. "He also always people who cared about him. I'm not sure about Anton in that respect. At any time that Trent lived with him."

"I know," Tommy said, shaking his head at Anton's "parenting" techniques. "I just wish he wasn't coming into my guardianship under these circumstances."

"He's starting to trust you," Hayley pointed out. "Look, Tommy, when Justin came to live with you, you were all ready a second father to him. He'd known you for years. Trent barely knows you. It's just going to take some time."

"I know." Tommy leaned his nose against Hayley's forehead, basking in her warmth. "Especially since he's the first Ranger with an evil Power. The rest of us were under spells, or otherwise convinced the good guys needed to be taken out and shot."

"Tommy, stop, that won't help." Hayley pulled her face away from his.

"Stop what?" Tommy frowned in consternation. What was he doing wrong?

"You can't always think of him like a Ranger, Tommy," Hayley said sternly. "Sometimes, you need to think of him as just Trent."

Tommy nodded, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He hadn't realized he'd slipped into that again. "I know. That's the difficult part."

"Do you two spend a lot of time together?" Hayley asked, leaning into his embrace again. "Outside of training, I mean. Quality time."

"We probably should," Tommy acknowledged, glancing down in embarrassment. "At least when I met the others, we were on a field trip. Sort of."

"Tommy, he's meant to be your *son*," Hayley reminded him. "I know you don't want to play favorites with the team, but outside of practice, outside of battle--you and Trent need to have an actual personal relationship. I'm amazed he's starting to open up to you at all."

"So am I," Tommy said, wishing he still had a goatee to stroke. Maybe he needed to grow one again. "I'll have to take him on a trip this weekend. No practice, no talk about being a Ranger... just father-son time."

"Sounds like a plan," Hayley said, patting him. "Just remember most teenage boys don't like camping."

Tommy laughed. "I'll try not to do that."

Hayley kissed his cheek. There was a promise of something more in the kiss, but not right at that moment.

Tommy hugged her, turning her so that he could regard her. "You get home safely, okay?"

Hayley silently hugged him back, stepped back, and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Sweet dreams," Tommy said, and headed up to bed.

* * *

On Saturday morning, Tommy snuck into Trent's room, a smile tugging at his lips. "Okay, sleepyhead." Tommy shook his new son awake. "Time to go."

"Go where?" Trent murmured, shoving Tommy's hand away and pulling the covers over his head. "No school." Trent may not have been fully awake, but he knew it was Saturday, and he fully wasn't getting out of bed before noon.

"I got some tickets to a skateboarding competition in Blue Bay Harbor." Tommy pulled the blanket off of Trent.

"Shane competing?" Trent asked, grudgingly rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Why couldn't Tommy decide to do something that didn't involve getting up at ugly cow milking hours?

"Actually, he's out of town on academy business," Tommy said.

Trent pushed himself up to a sitting position. "So if we're not going to watch Shane compete, what's the catch?"

"No catch," Tommy said gently. "I just thought we both needed a vacation."

Trent stared at his guardian. "Who are you and what have you done with Tommy?"

"I sought advice from a wise woman who thought we both needed a day off," Tommy said, ruffling Trent's hair.

"You're saying this was Hayley's idea?" Trent asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah," Tommy said, looking slightly abashed.

"No wonder she suddenly gave me the day off," Trent said, raising both eyebrows.

"That was the idea." Tommy patted Trent's shoulder. "She said we were both stressed and should spend a day doing nothing that had to do with Rangering."

"Ok," Trent said dubiously. He had a feeling his guardian was still up to something, he just didn't know what.

"Meet you downstairs," Tommy said.

"OK." Trent climbed out of bed and opened his closet.

Tommy grinned and made his way out of the room. "See you in a few."

Trent sighed and fished in his closet for some casual clothes. He'd mostly ended up with his mentor's hand-me-downs, due to not being able to access his own closet at home. Tommy had bought him some stuff too--all in white. Trent was getting very sick of white, white, and more white. He made a mental note to send Rocky an e-mail about monochromatic wardrobes when he got home.

He selected a brown shirt with broad white piping and tan jeans. He shuffled into them and picked up the bag containing his spare headband, the porta-shower, and his cell phone. And a book or two.

Then he headed downstairs, shifting the bag until it was comfortable.

Tommy frowned at his assembled clothing. "Are you at least wearing white boxers, I hope?"

Trent nodded. That had been the other thing Tommy had gotten. Lots and lots of white underwear. "Very, very white boxers." He slug his bag over his shoulder. "When does the competition start?"

"A couple hours," Tommy said, heading for the door. Then he paused. "You sure you're not going to end up passing out from Color Withdrawal on me?"

"White underwear. I'm not going to pass out, I just felt like wearing brown and tan today." Trent hoped his new father wouldn't make him change. He got so tired of white sometimes. It sometimes felt like white was the color of guilt.

"Okay," Tommy said. He put an arm companionably around Trent's shoulders and led him toward the door.

Trent let himself lean into Tommy as the two of them made their way to the car.

* * *

Trent sipped at a bottle of water, staring at the endless line of hills lining the 101. Of all the things Tommy could've picked to do that day, going to a skateboarding competition was not what he would've expected.

"You okay?" Dr.--Tommy asked.

Trent corrected himself hastily--if he didn't get it right, he'd hear about using the wrong term again.

"Just keeping hydrated," Trent shrugged, taking another sip of water. He sighed, knowing Tommy would keep grilling him until he spilled. "Oh, and I'm a little on the thrown side. I'm just... not sure what to make of this."

"The skate competition or me being your dad?" Tommy asked, glancing at one of the side mirrors. "And is it dehydration, or are we going to need some of the stuff you packed?"

"It's hot today," Trent replied, shrugging. He and car air conditioning had never gotten along too well for some reason. "If I get behind, I'll be drinking like a fish the whole way back. I'm thrown by the whole road trip thing. It's about the last thing I'd expect from you. Really, if I had to peg you for father-son bonding, I'd guess either a camping trip or a trip to the museum. Or possibly something in Mariner Bay so we could drag Justin along."

"I wanted something out of both our elements," Tommy confessed. "Shane actually suggested this. And this was meant to be you and me bonding time. We'll kidnap Justin out of the lab some other weekend."

Trent chuckled a bit at that. "So you didn't know what do and you immediately went to another Power Ranger for advice?"

"I was drawing a blank on something to do," Tommy confessed. "I happened to be asking Shane about something, and it came up."

"Oh," Trent said, knowing that his new father was trying desperately to be a father, and looking for advice.

Tommy shrugged. "I just wanted to spend some time with you away from Reefside. I know you'll never call me 'Dad', but I want you to be comfortable with me."

"I'm sorry it's taking so long," Trent said quietly, not feeling quite worthy. "I really am grateful that you took me in."

"I'm just glad I could be here when you needed me," Tommy responded, taking a hand off of the wheel long enough to pat Trent's shoulder.

Trent nodded, slouching in his seat.

"So, when we get to Blue Bay Harbor, where do you want to eat lunch?" Tommy asked.

"I dunno," Trent said. "I've never been there." He paused for a moment. "You mean you didn't check the directory for health food restaurants before we left?"

Tommy reached under the seat and handed him a restaurant directory.

"What, no rules about grease?" Trent asked, flipping through and realizing it was a general dining guide.

"I trust you to steer away from those," Tommy said. "Also, remember, you need to eat a lot."

"Like you don't." Trent sighed, flipping through it. "I take it the pizza parlor's right out?"

"It wouldn't be my top choice," Tommy said, his tone conveying that he really wasn't hot on the idea.

"You like Japanese?" Trent asked, still wandering through the guide.

"I can go for that," Tommy said, sounding more optimistic.

"OK, so there's a Japanese place... a couple..." Trent sighed as he looked. "You like Ichiban or... I kid you not... Japan Palace."

"It's up to you," Tommy said, shrugging. "Pick a place that sounds good, and we'll go for it."

"Ichiban," Trent said firmly. "The other place sounds like it belongs at a food court."

Tommy laughed at that. "It probably is in a food court. Ichiban sounds good to me."

Trent breathed in, suddenly needing to ask Tommy something. He just hoped he didn't get bawled out. "Do you think I'll ever be free of... well, this?"

Tommy smoothed Trent's hair over the headband, risking a quick glance away from the road at his foster son. "I think we'll be able to purge the evil from the Dino Gem eventually."

"That's good," Trent said, relieved that his mentor had understood.

"You might have to play guinea pig for Hayley and Billy a little longer, though." Tommy glanced in the mirrors, looking for an opening to pass a slow moving car. "Justin's been helping too, when he can."

"I can live with being a guinea pig," Trent said, though his tone was dubious. "I mean, Sensei Watanabe managed it for awhile, right?"

"Good," Tommy said absently, ignoring the comment about the previous team's mentor, and pulling the jeep into the left lane. "I know it's not fun."

"Neither is the headband or energy shower," Trent pointed out ruefully.

"I know, buddy," Tommy said soothingly.

"I like it when I don't have to use the shower," Trent said, shuddering at the thought.

Tommy patted his shoulder quickly.

Trent sat quietly for awhile, just humming around with the radio.

"This is a good time for a Nikki question," Tommy muttered out of the blue.

"A Nikki question?" Trent repeated, not sure if he'd heard his mentor right. "What's a Nikki question?"

Tommy chuckled. "Sorry, was thinking out loud. I had this friend at MIT--whenever there was a lapse in conversation at the dining hall, she'd suddenly throw out this really weird question about people. You learned the most... entertaining things about your dinner companions that way."

"Oh," Trent said nonchalantly, sitting up and turning to face his guardian. "Like what?"

"Like your favorite ice cream flavor or your favorite board game..." Tommy chuckled at the memory.

"Mint chocolate chip, and Monopoly," Trent answered, a smile tugging at his lips. Maybe this would turn out to be an interesting trip after all. It would be nice to know some dirt on Tommy that the rest of the team didn't know.

Tommy glanced at Trent. "Chocolate and... Monopoly actually. Hayley and I used to have games that lasted a week. We should get those going again."

Trent grinned. "We should."

"Hope you're not a version purist," Tommy said, changing lanes.

"Uh-oh, what version do you have?" Trent asked, suddenly worried.

"Star Wars." Tommy blushed a little. "Hayley gave it to me."

"Star Wars is cool," Trent said, knowing that at least it was a version that he'd played. "But they're tie fighters and corellian fighters, not cities and spaceports."

Tommy grinned, chuckling at Trent's adamant statement. "Looks like you'll fit in just fine. I'll talk to Hayley about a games night."

"Sounds like fun," Trent said.

Tommy checked his blind spot, pulling back into the right hand lane. "Anything else you like to play?"

"Uno," Trent replied. "Ethan taught us this card game called Once Upon a Time. Um..."

Tommy grinned. "I don't know Once Upon a Time, but, thanks to Rocky, I play a mean game of Uno. I've even been known to give the winner a Tofutti."

"A what?" Trent asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion.

"Soy ice cream bar," Tommy said. "Cam Watanabe introduced me to them."

It took Trent a minute to process that. "Wait, you actually eat stuff with sugar?" he asked. "You, the health food nut?"

"On rare occasion, yes, I like to celebrate," Tommy said, blushing a little.

"Does that mean I might actually get a birthday cake?" Trent asked, hope rising in his eyes.

"As long as it's sugarless," Tommy said, keeping a straight face.

Trent sighed miserably.

"I'm teasing, Trent," Tommy said sheepishly--he hadn't meant to upset Trent that much. "I'm not *that* mean. Just keep in mind the leftovers will be living in the freezer most of the summer for you to work on *slowly*." He squeezed Trent's shoulder.

"All right D-Tommy," Trent said.

Tommy reached out ruffled Trent's hair affectionately.

"Hey, both hands on the wheel, Mister." Trent batted Tommy's hand away. His tone was angry, but he was trying not to laugh. "So, how far is this place?" Trent tapped the door uncomfortably.

"Next exit," Tommy said.

"Thank goodness, I'm *starved*," Trent said enthusiastically.

"So that's a vote for lunch," Tommy said. "You want to try the Japanese place for lunch or dinner?"

"Well, did you have someplace else in mind for lunch?" Trent asked, having a suspicion his mentor had planned the whole thing out.

"Shane recommended a good deli if you'd rather," Tommy said, obviously willing to cater--somewhat--to Trent's tastes.

"Just as long as I eat," Trent said, feeling his stomach start to growl.

"Do you really think I'd let you starve?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Trent said. "I just wanted you to know...."

"I remember what it was to be 16 and a Ranger," Tommy said, laughing. "Come on. Let's get you fed."

* * *

"That was good Tommy." Trent folded his napkin and left it neatly by his empty plate.

"Yeah, remind me to thank Shane for the suggestion." Tommy dabbed at a bit of mustard on his mouth, then did likewise.

"Tommy, thank Shane for the suggestion," Trent said, trying not to grin.

"Comedian." Tommy laughed and cuffed Trent lightly. "At least you've got the name down."

Trent flushed.

"So, we have an hour or two before we have to head back," Tommy said. "Do you want to head to the competition, or did you see something in the tour book you were reading on the way here?"

"Um, you did want to use the tickets, right?" Trent asked, confused. Or did Tommy really want to stand for the whole competition? "And the seating's not reserved, right?"

"Right," Tommy said, looking abashed. "Good point. We'd better get in before the seats get taken."

Trent rolled his eyes while Tommy took the ticket up to the counter to pay their bill.

"They didn't call me forgetful for nothing," Tommy said when he returned, leaving a couple of one dollar bills as a tip. "And my teammates knew me *real* well."

"There's a change," Trent muttered as they headed for the car, thinking about how little Conner, Ethan, and Kira knew about their mentor.

Tommy shrugged. "I just didn't want you to think I was the be-all and end-all of Rangers."

"No, I meant that your teammates knew you really well," Trent said, blushing.

"And so will yours," Tommy said reassuringly, patting Trent's shoulder.

Trent sighed, wondering why Tommy hadn't realized he was talking about *Tommy's* relationship with the others, not his. Trent shrugged it off and climbed into the car.

"I know you're not happy being a Ranger most of the time, but you'll get used to it," Tommy said reassuringly, as he climbed into the Jeep and fastened his seat belt. "Just as long as you don't disappear on anybody, you'll be fine."

Trent buckled his seat belt, trying to decide if he should *try* to explain to Tommy what he really meant. Before his guardian started hovering again.

"What?" Tommy asked, looking concerned.

"Um... Kira was saying how little the three of them knew about you," Trent said.

"Oh," Tommy said quietly, looking like he was thinking about it.

Trent shifted uncomfortably, as if his back itched but he couldn't scratch it.

"Look, Trent, don't feel you have to keep your family life secret just because it's me." Tommy shifted the car back into park, turning to face Trent.

"Yes, but I don't know you that well either," Trent said, staring at his hands as if they'd lend any insight.

"That's part of the reason for this little outing you know," Tommy said gently, resting a hand on Trent's shoulder.

"I know," Trent acknowledged. "And I'm glad to feel... well, kinda normal."

Tommy smiled at him.

"What I liked to do, before all this happened," Trent said, "was just find a quiet spot and draw. I just wished I'd learned nature drawing instead of super hero drawing." He thought of his morphed form and the laser arrows.

"I'm sure we could find a class for that in town somewhere if you want me to sign you up for one," Tommy offered. "I won't even yell at you for missing class for Ranger issues. And we'll make sure the teacher won't either."

Trent gave him a small smile. "I'd like that, thanks."

Tommy nodded. "No problem." He thought about mentioning the qualities that made Trent a Ranger, but remembered the last time he'd given that speech, and why he'd had to give that speech.

"I want my life as normal as can be," Trent said, "given *this*." He fingered the headband.

"I know," Tommy said in a gentle tone. "And believe it or not? Me too."

"Good," Trent said, relieved that his guardian understood. "What was it like when you were first a Ranger? How did you have a social life? How did you have friends outside your team?"

"Um.... backwards... Friends outside the team? My social life was the team, and I only taught martial arts a couple days a week, not working as much as you do at the Cyberspace. Of course, Ernie didn't know I was a Ranger, Hayley does and can cover for you. As for the first question... um..." Tommy stammered.

"So, basically, my life will focus around my team?" Trent asked, leaning against the window miserably.

Tommy nodded. "You tend to just... focus on each other I guess. It's not intentional. It just happens."

Trent sighed as Tommy finally put the car back into gear and pulled out of the parking space. "Great." He wished, at that point, that he hadn't been found after he ran away.

"I knew I should've banned Ranger-y topics," Tommy said, frowning at Trent in concern. He squeezed Trent's shoulder reassuringly, then concentrated on getting to the competition.

* * *

"You sure this'll work?" Trent asked as he lay down on the couch in the lab a few weeks later. It was the couch he'd used most often when he was taking his energy showers, and now it would be the place where he'd be freed from the gem--or at least the evil part of it--he hoped. Trent would've preferred to be completely free of the gem, but he knew *that* wasn't going to happen.

Hayley waved a hand in a so-so motion, clearly distracted by the instrumentation.

"We are, however, 100% sure it won't hurt anything," Billy added, typing at some kind of weird keyboard. "Worst case scenario is it does nothing whatever."

Trent nodded. He didn't have his headband on in case it caused a reaction with the machine Billy and Hayley were using, so he was focused on keeping his power at bay. "Good." Trent hoped the worst case wouldn't be the actual case.

"I'm glad to see you're calmer about this than Tommy," Billy said with a high degree of relief. Trent's guardian had been banished to the kitchen since his hovering had caused him to be constantly underfoot.

"I've been looking forward to it," Trent confessed. "And besides, you can hardly banish *me* to the kitchen!" He grinned at the mental image.

Billy chuckled. "Good point."

Hayley made sure everything was in place. "Hold still, Trent."

"Right," Trent said, trying to do just that.

Billy flipped a switch on the machine above Trent's head. It whirred, sending out beams of white light. Trent started to laugh as the machine beam tickled the area around his left wrist. It felt good, not painful at all, and maybe, just maybe, he'd get free of this.

"What's so funny?" Hayley asked, looking both amused and worried.

"It kind of tickles," Trent said, trying to suppress the laugh. "But it's OK, really."

"Okay," Hayley said, exchanging glances with Billy and checking the results on a monitor. "All over your body, or...."

"Pretty much," Trent said. "But it isn't unpleasant. It feels kinda good, actually."

"Good," Hayley replied. She seemed torn between being his friend, his boss, and a scientist. "Do you feel your gem at all?"

Trent concentrated. "It's quiet."

"Readings look good," Billy said in a calming tone. Whether he was trying to calm Hayley or Trent was open for debate.

"Good," Hayley said. "Do you feel like you have more energy?"

"Actually, I fell like somebody's tickling me all over," Trent said, chuckling some more.

"Repeating himself," Hayley diagnosed. "Not a good sign."

"The energy thing might not tell us anything for awhile," Billy said.

Hayley nodded. "Tell us if you feel anything besides ticklish, Trent," she said. "We have two more minutes to go."

"Okay," Trent said, trying to hold back laughter.

Hayley looked like she wanted to pat him on the shoulder, if it weren't for the fact that it would interrupt the beam. "Okay, hold on."

"I'm ok, Hayley, really," Trent said, shaking his head. She was becoming nearly as fussy as Tommy. He found this rather discouraging.

"We've never had to do this before," Hayley pointed out, obviously still worried.

"I'd say something if it didn't feel right, OK?" Trent pointed out.

"I know," Hayley said. She looked over. "Nearly done."

Trent beamed, glad that the procedure was nearly over so Hayley would stop fussing over him.

"Eager to get out from under there?" Hayley teased.

"Eager to never have to wear the headband again," Trent said, motioning vaguely in the headband's direction.

"I know," Hayley said soothingly. "Half a minute, Trent."

Trent's grin widened.

"Ok, done." Hayley activated the comm. "OK, Tommy, you can come down now."

Tommy's feet (and the rest of him) thundered down the stairs. "How do you feel, Trent?"

"Good," Trent said, still grinning from ear to ear. No more headband. He didn't know how he knew, but he did.

Tommy ran a hand over Trent's hair. "You sure you're OK?"

Trent nodded gravely. "I'm all right."

Hayley started scanning Trent, having to bat Tommy's hand out of the way a couple of times. "Everything looks good. I think you should try morphing."

Trent's grin disappeared as he summoned his morpher and prepared to morph. "Dino Thunder! Power Up!"

Before them stood the White Ranger. He stood. And stood. And then stood some more.

Finally, Trent cracked open his helmet, clearly uncomfortable in it. "Um, Hayley, did you want to scan me or something?"

"We are scanning," Hayley pointed out.

"Ok," Trent said, shifting nervously from foot to foot as if one of them hurt. "Can I leave my helmet off?"

"Sure." Hayley smiled reassuringly. "Feeling claustrophobic?"

"Just a bit," Trent said nervously.

Hayley nodded. "Hold on, Trent. Won't hurt a bit."

"I know," Trent said.

Hayley looked at a readout and then smiled. "Okay, Trent, put the helmet back on and demorph."

"Right," Trent said, putting the helmet on. "Power down!"

His morph broke like a scattering of glass shards. "How do you feel?" Hayley asked.

"Fine," Trent said. "Like I'm gonna *cream* you three at Monopoly tonight."

Tommy grinned for the first time. "He's okay."

"Worrywart," Trent said affectionately. "Like Hayley would let me try anything dangerous."

Tommy ruffled his charge's hair. "Right. Why don't we go upstairs and celebrate?"

Trent smoothed his hair. "Hands to yourself, mister."

"You coming upstairs?" Tommy's smile was full of mischief.

"Yeah," Trent said hesitantly, studying his guardian carefully. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing," Tommy said innocently. A smirk kept creeping onto his face. "Except some ice cream.".

"Ice cream?" Trent's face lit up and he raced up the stairs.

"Five, four, three..."

"Actual ice cream, Billy," Tommy said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "Come on, or he won't save any for the rest of us."

"Yeah, never come between a teenaged Ranger and food, I know," Billy said as they followed Trent up. "He could pick up some of Rocky's *good* qualities. At least he seems much happier than he did when Jason and I met him."

"Some control over his powers and a little TLC go a long way," Tommy said proudly.

"Not to mention no headband," Hayley reminded him. "He was happy that he couldn't wear the headband while we were running the machine."

"I'd imagine that any young man would find something that makes him... less than normal... abhorrent," Billy said.

"You OK, Billy?" Tommy asked as his friend seemed caught in some memory.

"Yes," Billy said abruptly, signaling the end of *that* discussion. "And it looks like he's got the ice cream out."

"Uh, Tommy, do we have an ice cream scoop?" Trent asked. He was standing at the kitchen counter, staring at the drawers uselessly. Some were open, a testament to Trent's search.

"Bottom left drawer," Tommy instructed.

"Thanks," Trent said, opening the drawer.

Tommy winked at Hayley. "Do *we* have an ice cream scoop," Tommy repeated under his breath.

Hayley grinned. "He's come a long way," she whispered proudly. "You'd never have thought that he was running away a few months ago."

Billy nodded emphatically. "You've done a great job with him, Tommy."

Tommy grinned. "Never thought I had it in me."

"Justin would say otherwise," Hayley said with a laugh.

"Who's for ice cream?" Trent called, obviously impatient.

Tommy approached, taking down some bowls from the cabinet over the sink. "I think we all are."

Trent looked from his guardian to Billy and Hayley. "Should my ears be burning?"

Hayley grinned and shrugged.

Billy snorted, but didn't say anything.

Trent just beamed, clearly declaring it not worth an eye roll, and scooped ice cream into the bowls.

"Go easy," Tommy cautioned when he realized Trent was adding quite a lot to those bowls, "not everyone has Ranger metabolisms."

"Right, more mint chocolate chip for me," Trent said happily.

Don't make yourself sick either," Tommy warned, reaching to take the Breyers ice cream tub away from Trent.

Trent moved the tub out of his reach. "I won't, *Dad*."

Tommy blushed at the word.

"Congratulations," Billy murmured, winking at Hayley as Trent started dishing out the ice cream.

Trent handed the bowls over to the other three, and sedately started to eat his own ice cream.

Tommy sat next to his son, eating the ice cream experimentally, as if he were worried about it.

"A little sugar never hurt anyone, Tommy," Trent said brightly, clearly trying to encourage his guardian to indulge himself.

"Yeah, but too much sugar...."

"In this house?" Trent asked. "Come on." Clearly Trent didn't think this was possible.

Or that Tommy knew that Justin was taking good care of him. "When you have Justin Stewart for a big brother," Tommy said, a smile tugging at his lips.

Trent raised an eyebrow at that, clearly catching Tommy's hint, but resumed eating, looking unconcerned.

Tommy glanced at Hayley, who shook her head subtly. He nodded, and continued eating. Still slowly.

Billy smiled. "I'll be returning to Aquitar in a few days, after we make sure everything went okay."

"Don't feel like you have to rush, bro," Tommy said firmly. "We all miss seeing you."

"I don't feel rushed," Billy said. "It's pleasant, being on my home world once again." He watched Trent eat.

"What?" Trent asked, wondering if he should blush or something. "Do I have ice cream on my face or something?"

Tommy laughed at his ward's consternation. "No, we've just never seen someone eat ice cream with such concentration."

Trent flushed in embarrassment.

"Come on, you're embarrassing him," Hayley said. She turned towards Trent. "Don't mind them. They're just happy that your Gem's evil seems to be gone."

"Me too!" Trent exclaimed.

"I guess you're the happiest of all," Tommy said, draping an arm around Trent's shoulders.

Trent nodded emphatically, leaning against his guardian.

End


End file.
